I was going to write up a report of my trip to the Space Access Conference, but my friend Leonard David has beaten me to it.

It is the belief of a corps of 21st century crusaders that getting up into space requires less of a down payment than ever before. There's been a reduction in development time and risk to build vehicles able to offer routine, cheap access to space. Lastly, it appears that a flourishing of non-traditional space markets is near at hand, Vanderbilt said. "All this seems to be converging on a spot where the business case for these ventures makes sense," he said.

Over the decades, pushing spacecraft into orbit has primarily meant taking the "disintegrating totem pole" approach, said Clapp of Pioneer Rocketplane. Critically needed are true spaceships that fly "real high, real fast, and real often," he said.

At days end, it remains the thrill of space flight that stirs the soul, Clapp added. "It's almost as if we all share this religion?this enthusiasm for doing something in space. It?s a passion that people who are very religious, I think, would understand."

Clark Lindsey at Hobby Space has a good review as well.