Over at The Space Review today, Jeff Foust writes that space enthusiasts have to avoid the Segway problem of overhype. On a related note, Bob Clarebrough says that space entrepreneurs need to be both visionary and customer focused.

[Late morning update]

Clark Lindsey has further thoughts.

Kudo's to Jeff and Bob on very good articles.

Although I can just see the steam rising from Ed Wright's keyboard as I write this.

As a potential customer for human spaceflight I have a different set of requirements than for a tourist vehicle and you can make damn sure that if I am paying the bill it will be done the way that I want it done.

The people doing this kind of thing need to start thinking beyond simple tourist enterprises.

Dennis

Dennis, most people aren't thinking about "simple tourist enterprises." They're thinking about how to reduce the cost of getting people into space, for whatever purpose they desire.

I think there is a world market for maybe five international space stations. :-)

At the moment there is a small niche group who get why space is necessary, they can be the initial market. The task at hand is to develop the required systems to a point where that small group can afford it. From then on in, I would expect the rest to be, as they say, history.

I am starting to think about how to develop small low cost near term space homes. If the general public at large start seeing how they might actually become space pioneers, perhaps they might start getting it. Space is more than just a rocket ride.

Time to start developing PCs instead of main frames. There is no market for main frames among the common people, and that is the market we need to access.