Although I expect its viewpoint of the ideological aspects of entrepreneurial space flight, particularly as they were espoused by Heinlein, may not be welcomed by all in this venue.

I enjoyed the film when I saw it as a child, and think it was an excellent introduction to spaceflight; certainly as far as its technical accuracy was concerned, it was light years ahead of its contemporaries.

But the film that made a spaceflight believer out of me was War of the Worlds. It's appeal was more scientific than engineering: there are strange things out there, and we need to learn about them. I wanted to go, and I didn't care who paid the bills or whether or not it made money. We need to go because it's there.

It would be wonderful if the increased efficiency and enthusiasm of free enterprise could be applied to space travel, but I suspect that as long as there is no direct foreseeable profit motive we're going to have to rely on public financing and leadership in space exploration. Fear not, sooner or later we will find something directly convertible to sheer raw profit. When we do, Heinlein's vision may come true after all.