Many years ago, in December 1993 to be approximate, I noticed a space-related poster on the wall of Eric Klien\u2019s office in the headquarters of the Atlantis Project. We chatted for a bit about the possibilities for colonies in space. Later, Eric mentioned that this conversation was one of the formative moments in his conception of the Lifeboat Foundation.<\/p>\n
Another friend, filmmaker Meg McLain has noticed that orbital hotels and space cruise liners are all vapor ware. Indeed, we\u2019ve had few better depictions of realistic \u201chow it would feel\u201d space resorts since 1968\u2019s Kubrick classic \u201c2001: A Space Odyssey.\u201d Remember the Pan Am flight to orbit, the huge hotel and mall complex, and the transfer to a lunar shuttle? To this day I know people who bought reservation certificates for whenever Pan Am would begin to fly to the Moon.<\/p>\n
In 2004, after the X Prize victory, Richard Branson announced that Virgin Galactic would be flying tourists by 2007. So far, none.<\/p>\n
A little later, Bigelow announced a fifty million dollar prize if only tourists could be launched to orbit by January 2010. I expect the prize money won\u2019t be claimed in time.<\/p>\n
Why? Could it be that the government is standing in the way? And if tourism in space can\u2019t be \u201cpermitted\u201d what of a lifeboat colony?<\/p>\n
Meg has set out to make a documentary film about how the human race has arrived four decades after the Moon landing and still no tourist stuff. Two decades after Kitty Hawk, a person could fly across the country; three decades, across any ocean.<\/p>\n
Where are the missing resorts?<\/p>\n