To "Boldly Go" When You Can Afford the $200,000 Passenger Fee...

Oh, Gene Roddenberry: how FAR we've strayed!

Astronaut for hire: Space tourism will help science. Of course, it probably WILL.

The national will was once to "beat the Soviets" after the launch of Sputnik and impacting the moon.

The national will was set by President John F. Kennedy, a visionary that said "I BELIEVE in ten years, we would put a man on the moon." It was audacious, inspiring and many gave hours and quite literally their lives in making that vision reality, that we now take for granted (and in fringe cases, DOUBT its authenticity).

I actually had (I guess you could call it) a "debate" with a former coworker whose proof of the moon landing being faked was a You Tube link. Mind you, he was in his twenties, a recent college graduate ('07) and I had to remind him: my cartoons were interrupted by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. For a 5-year-old kid - then and now - that's IMPORTANT.

Therefore, I told him very politely he could continue his belief in a doctored link all day (I believe MythBusters proved 'em wrong). I KNOW what I SAW with my own two beady little eyes (with far better vision at the time).

Now...we've become a "what's in it for me?" society. It's no longer the national will, but the will of market forces to which I guess we all must kowtow.

For more info (and to apply): Astronauts4hire.org