50 years in space.
An interesting article on the 50 anniversary of beginning of the space age
The last paragraph makes a good point.
"This is perhaps to be expected for a 200,000-year-old race of beings leaving its crib for the first time. We will, however, outgrow that fear. It was 115 years from Columbus to the Jamestown colony. It will take about that same span of time for a new generation - ours is too bound to Earth - to go out and not look back."
As much as we would like to see us become a true space faring civilization in our lifetime, I fear it will not happen. It will be the future generations that will do it. Perhaps our grandchildren or great-grandchildren.