Our View - Monday

SPACE TRAVEL FOR MASSES
FINAL FRONTIER A TOURIST DESTINATION

For those people who grew up in the early years of the space age, interplanetary travel was just a matter of time. Schoolboys car-ried lunch boxes adorned with futuristic ships heading toward space or - planets. possibility space travel as a carrot to keep their charges interested in math and science. It seemed like everyone believed that they, or at least their children, could someday hop aboard a spaceliner for a trip to their job at a colony on the moon.

   Well, now those folks have grown up, and most of their children have grown up, and regular space travel remains the domain of a relative few. What happened?

   Quite frankly, government happened.

   By restricting space exploration to exclude private enterprise, the federal government made sure it kept a tight rein on innovation. Oh, it allowed private industry to take part on the fringes of the space program, but for the most part government controlled the direction and innovation in space travel.

   No more.

   Ever since aerospace designer Burt Rutan claimed the $10 million X-Prize for reaching space with his SpaceShipOne in 2004, private space travel has been on the horizon, beckoning designers, investors and passengers. It advanced a bit closer when Rutan's brains teamed with billionaire Richard Branson's money to launch Virgin Galactic for the purpose of bring space travel to the masses. Last week the idea of sending paying customers into space seemed almost within reach.

   Branson, famous for his Virgin Airways and other business endeavors, introduced the jet he intends to use to power future space flights. The high desert north of Los Angeles was the scene of excitement a week ago as Branson showed off "Eve," or White Knight Two, the plane that will carry SpaceShipTwo, and paying passengers, to launch altitude for short jaunts beyond the Earth's atmosphere.

   Lest anyone think it's a short step from the unveiling at the Mojave Air & Space Port to the final frontier, an Associated Press report noted a couple of signifficant developments that must happen before Virgin can send folks to space. Eve must complete a year of ffight tests to ensure its airworthiness and ability to perform to speciffcations. Of possibly even greater importance is that SpaceShipTwo, the passenger rocket that will ride between the twin fuselages of Eve, is still under construction. When it's cleared for takeoff, the rocket will carry two pilots and six passengers on the trip of a lifetime.

   One of those passengers, Matthew Upchurch, has reservations for a flight and was present when Branson presented Eve to the world. He said he felt goosebumps when he saw the exotic-looking jet. "It was very emotional for me. I thought, ‘Oh my God, we're getting closer.'"

   Upchurch and others will pay $200,000 each for the pleasure of being among the ffrst commercial space tourists. Virgin Galactic intends to send 500 tourists into space during its first year of ffight operations. That's roughly the number of people who have gone to space in 45 years of government operations, according to the AP.

   In addition to sending more humans beyond the bonds of Earth, private space flight holds the promise of innovation and progress. That's because Virgin Galactic, and possible competitors, have a reason to improve: proffit. Although profit is often denigrated by those who don't understand economics, it's what drives the economy. Profft provides jobs for working people and income for retirees. And it's what encourages innovation and invention. If companies and industries can find a better, more efficient way to supply consumers with what they demand, everyone wins.

   For too many years the world's governments have directed space travel and exploration, going off in pursuit of just a few goals. Private space travel has the freedom to go in several directions at the same time, with one company specializing in low-orbit space ofights, another in lunar tourism, and yet another in ffights to observe speciffc events such as passing comets and other phenomena. Other industries can benefit, as well, as private space travel would provide more opportunities for those industries to come up with new products and processes to aid the fiedgling space industry. Communications could benefit from the space industry's ability to launch satellites on demand, rather than when NASA can work them in.

   This won't happen overnight; innovation and testing take time. But NASA has had decades, and manned exploration has progressed no farther than the moon. Private space travel is a concept whose time has arrived.

VA KEEPS GUNS FROM VETERANS

It seems that whenever there is a very public shooting spree, antigunners want to pass more laws to keep firearms out of the hands of those who didn't commit the crime. That's not exactly an original thought; many supporters of the Second Amendment and self-defense have made that observation in the past. And all too often, those laws end up having unintended consequences. Take the one that bars criminals and those judged mentally incapacitated from purchasing a ffrearm.

   Under the Brady Act, anyone purchasing a firearm from a licensed dealer - and in some states from anyone - must undergo a background check. Dealers run a potential purchaser's name through the National Instant Criminal Background Check database to ensure that person is legally able to buy a ofrearm. Although it's true the law has prevented many criminals and others from legally purchasing a firearm, it has also prevented many others who shouldn't be on the list from doing so.

   That might change if Sen. Richard Burr has his way. The North Carolina lawmaker has attached an amendment to a popular veteran's health bill that would remove many veterans from the national database and prevent the Department of Veterans Affairs from unilaterally adding names to the list without having them go through the legal system.

   As things stand now, the VA adds veterans to the NICS database if they've been assigned ffduciary guardians, Burr says. The VA apparently believes bouncing checks makes people mentally incompetent. "The (national database) is for criminals, not for folks who have troubles handling their own financial offairs," Burr said.

   According to a McClatchy Newspapers report, Burr's amendment would require the VA to have a judge or magistrate declare a veteran dangerous before adding his or her name to the database. These veterans pose a danger to their checkbooks, not themselves or others. If not being a good money manager is suffcient reason to bar an American from exercising his or her rights, how many members of Congress would make the cut?

   Keeping ffrearms out of the hands of mentally incapacitated people and felons is a good idea. Guns can be dangerous when used improperly or illegally. But because the right to self defense is so basic, and because people should be free to exercise their rights until that freedom infringes on the rights of others, adding people to the NICS database, thus restricting their rights, shouldn't be done lightly. Especially in the cases of veterans, who have protected the rights of all Americans. It's simply not right that they, of all people, would have their rights restricted at the whim of a bureaucrat.