Private Space Ventures

With the current news of private space trips being offered in 2007 by Virgin Atlantic and the possibility of even further space journeys in the years that follow in privately owned craft how can we expect the US government to keep a territorial foot hold on space, what kind of secrets might they not want revealed and is there anything to look out for? (with documented cases showing bases on the moon which is practically on earth's door step anyway)

Space will be a corprate run game. Virgin will own it ALL! Actually, the airforce has plans for space warfare, so I would bet that there will be flight restrictions just like on earth. Cant fly over Area 51, Cant fly over the moon monolith either.

I'd like to see spacefaring privatized and away from a government monopoly. The various government agecncies like NASA and ESA have had a monopoly for too long, and the result is a series of feifdoms where no one has any incentive to to more with less.

The only thing NASA probably doesn't want revealed is their incompetence and bureaucratic inertia, which is not exactly well hidden, anyway. Interstingly enough, I was watching "From the Earth to the Moon" last night and was struck by the incredible difference between the NASA of the 1960s and NASA today.

But as far as secrets, I don't believe there are any. All that "we never went to the Moon" or the "Yes we did, and there are Secret Bolivian Bases there, or the "Face on Mars" stuff is just bogus.

Space exploration and other planets, with the search for life in places like Mars and the gas-giant moons is incredibly more exciting -- and true, too!

This is an interesting point... How would the government keep orbital UFOs secret from the population, with the privatization of space travel??? Perhaps this will be the straw that breaks the camel's back and leads to disclosure???

What legal claim does any one person/country/organisation/goverment have to space and planets anyway?? Id love to see some Trillionaire privateer get things moving up there!! The eyes of the world would be watching and it would be difficult for any goverment,especially the U.S. to intrude or try and keep information reported back quiet,there would be too many scientists,astronomers,pilots,enthusiasts etc involved at high levels to "Hush" up about their findings!
BRING IT ON!!!

heh I can just see it now. Commericalisation of space and the next thing you'll have every man and dog out to claim as much "space land" as he can. Mass genocide of all the little green men followed by decades of "we're sorry" and "oops, our bad, here, have some chicken"

Ok...A Prediction...Sometime in the next few weeks, I expect a thread on here talking about a UFO that was near Spaceship One during its ascent. It's exactly the kind of stuff we see from the less than credible sources aroubd here