Help power Marketplace this winter when you support the show today. Donate Now!

Space, the private frontier

Rachel Dornhelm Jul 13, 2006
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Space, the private frontier

Rachel Dornhelm Jul 13, 2006
HTML EMBED:
COPY

TEXT OF STORY

SCOTT JAGOW: If you’re looking for a vacation that’s out of this world, here’s an idea: A visit to Genesis One, a privately-financed space module. More now from Rachel Dornhelm.


RACHEL DORNHELM: The potential laboratory and hotel module blasted out of the atmosphere yesterday on a converted Russian missile.

It’s the brainchild of tycoon Robert Bigelow who owns the Budget Suites of America chain.

While a few dozen companies are at work on space transportation, space development advocate Rick Tumlinson says structures like Genesis I would provide a destination for space travelers.

RICK TUMLINSON: You put those together and in sometime in the next 10 years you’re gonna have private rocket ships serving private space facilities. At which point the game is on.

Bigelow has pledged $500 million to his project.

Tumlinson says many of the entrepreneurs investing in space are self made moguls, like Elon Musk of Pay-Pal and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.

I’m Rachel Dornhelm for Marketplace.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.