Insights · October 9th, 2008
We all would like some good news about the future. Here is some.
One of the most impressive people I have met is Elon Musk, whom I have seen at Future In Review conferences. He was founder of PayPal as well as Zip2 Corporation, and after selling them poured his efforts and money into two primary endeavors, the all-electric car company Tesla Motors, and a private space launch company, SpaceX.
When I heard Elon a couple of years ago as SpaceX was nearing its test flights, he sounded to me like my mentor as a futurist and speaker, Ed Lindaman, who had been director of program planning for Apollo. In other words, Elon sounded like a space guy as he talked enthusiastically and confidently about how his company would achieve the first private launches into orbit, and eventually would lead the way to Mars.
Here is the good news, amazing news really. Late last month, SpaceX successfully launched the first private, liquid-fuel rocket into earth orbit. It carried a dummy payload, and demonstrated the tremendous progress that SpaceX has made in a few short years. You can watch the inspiring video of the launch here.
In the very long run humans will become a space-faring civilization, far beyond our efforts so far. This is our real destiny.
Glen Hiemstra is a futurist speaker, consultant, blogger, internet TV show host and founder of Futurist.com. To arrange for a speech contact Futurist.com.
