Then and Now...

The plane here is seen against the aurora, that beautiful spectacle demonstrating the happy fact of this planet's electromagnetic defenses, while Hudson Bay and Lake Superior stand out below. It is 500 miles high, above Nebraska.

One reason to build the spaceplane now is because- after over 100,000 years as a species on this world- we can. But would commercial airline traffic routinely fly into space for profit? Who will break the status quo and taking the risk? Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic and Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites are examples of firms undertaking just that today.