Comic-Con: Private Space Flight Ain't the Miracle It's Cracked up to Be

One of the marvels of Comic-Con is that when a panelist asks the people in the room whether they'd be willing to risk a fatal mechanical failure for the chance to go into space, everyone raised their hands. It's the kind of place where nerds roam free, geeks can be both predator and prey, and the answer to the question, "How about going to space?" is foreordained. The panel I'm referring to focused on the question of whether private companies are better suited to taking humanity into space, or whether NASA is doing awesome work and we, as a society, should just keep on keepin' on. To help answer the question, the panel featured Mark Street (from XCOR), John Hunter (Quicklaunch), Chris Radcliff (San Diego Space Society), Dave Rankin (The Mars Society), Molly McCormick (Orbital Outfitters) and was moderated by Jeff Berkwits (editor and writer). The group did praise NASA ...