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Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
Mean either.

I did read somewhere that they're trying to make a "Solar Sail" device that will get something to Mars a lot faster than conventional rockets, though.

The Japanese have already tested one...in the last few months. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the end result of the experiment.

ric,
I believe you're right about how the current SpaceShipOne works.

I, however, think I would do it. I have a fear of heights (even looking off a 12-foot garage roof was troublesome), but airplane travel has never bothered me before.

Warbler,
from a CNN article about Bush's space plan announcement (Jan 2004):
...the United States will wrap up its current obligations on building the international space station by 2010, after which it will retire the remaining three space shuttles used to build and service the station, Bush said. Russia and 14 other countries are partners with the United States in the ISS.

The shuttles have been grounded since Columbia broke up while returning to Earth last February. The president said NASA will return the shuttles to flight for the remainder of the decade, based upon recommendations from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

The board has told NASA that it would have to re-certify the space shuttles if it wanted to fly them beyond 2010 -- an onerous and expensive task the Bush administration opted to forgo.

The initial spurt of new funding will be used to begin work on what a "crew exploration vehicle," which O'Keefe said will "look totally different" from the space shuttle. It will be developed and tested by 2008 and will conduct its first manned mission no later than 2014. Lunar missions will begin between 2015 and 2020.

The new vehicle will be capable of traveling to the space station. It has not been determined whether the craft will be reusable, like the space shuttle, or a spacecraft like those on the Apollo missions, which were used just once.

Also, NASA will begin sending a series of robotic missions to the moon beginning in 2008 to conduct research and prepare for future missions, and research will be conducted on the space station on the long-term effects of extended space travel on human physiology.