Re: Damn that is depressing...
Well Goddard was a pioneer unapreciated in his time but he laid a foundation for others. As Hudson said, the problem is financing.
But no matter what the $ spent by the govt, NASA is never ever going to make space access less than very expensive.
The paradigm of a series of $ prizes to stimulate competitive innovation can never happen given our political structure. Why? No favored jobs for certain congressional districts.