Robert Heinlein's Dream of Private Space Travel Is Coming True
A new generation of companies has made space travel affordable.
December 2022
We Are Going to the Moon
Thanks to the rise of private spaceflight companies, mankind will have a future off-Earth.
Features
Space Is an Opportunity To Rethink Property Rights
Here's what could happen when John Locke and Henry George go to the moon.
The FCC: America's Other Space Agency
How the FCC went from regulating telegraphs to regulating satellites
Comic: Robert A. Heinlein in 'The Moon Is a Hot Babe'
An aeronautical engineer considers writing a novel about a new start on the moon.
Interview
From Space Regulator to Astronaut: Q&A With George Nield
He spent his government career thinking about space. Then he got to fly.
Topics
It's Been 50 Years Since Humans Walked on the Moon
The last time there was a manned mission to the moon, Pong had just been released on Atari.
Rosie the Space Habitat Is a 3D-Printed Living Space
The 23-foot-tall polymer structure has room for two and fits inside a SpaceX Starship.
As Private Space Travel Grows, so Will the Insurance Market
One insurance company started offering a space travel policy last year.
So Long, Soyuz: Russia Is Leaving the International Space Station
Privatization can free orbital innovation from ground-bound politics.
Are We Still Awed by the Heavens?
A dimming sky and overprotective parents make it harder for today's kids to observe the great expanse.
Why We Should Terraform the Galaxy
One critic calls it "arrogant vandalism," but advocates say it might be a necessary form of self-preservation.
NASA's Costly, Delayed Mission To Update Its Spacesuits
NASA has spent more than $420 million on the development of spacesuits with very little to show for it.
The Futuristic Promise of Dippin' Dots
The ice cream's innovative freezers helped Pfizer keep COVID-19 vaccines stable during transit.
How To Use Drugs in Space
It's best to avoid sparking up a doobie on a spaceship, but there are other ways to consume substances in the cosmos.
NIMBY Laws Are Blocking Humanity's Future Among the Stars
The regulations that increase building costs on Earth will have the same effect in space.
The James Webb Space Telescope Captures a Dying Star
A dying star and a young star orbit each other within a plume of burning dust and gas.
Who Owns the Satellites Orbiting the Earth?
Starlink is the biggest player in the satellite business, for now.
The Space Force Is an Expensive Farce
Why does the newest branch of the U.S. military need horses?
Culture
The Fractal, Fractious Politics of The Expanse
Taking humanity from Earth to the stars isn't easy.
Books
The End of Astronauts: Should We Send Robots to Space Instead?
Robots don't get cabin fever, develop cancer from cosmic radiation, miss their families, or go insane.
What We Owe the Future Is Liberalism
What does "longtermism" offer those of us who favor limited government and free markets?
Reviews
Review: 1947's Prelude to Space Envisioned We'd Be on Mars by Now
Reality has failed to match author Arthur C. Clarke's hopes.
Review: The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy Is Good, Actually
The millennial generation has had enough anti-prequel propaganda.
Review: Astronauts Don't Really Eat Astronaut Ice Cream
The treats you bought in gift shops are too crumbly to eat in microgravity.
Review: Be Your Own Boss in Space With 1993's Wing Commander: Privateer
The video game merges free market trading with exciting space combat, and your ethics and goals are up to you.
Review: The Libertarianism of Firefly
What if our interplanetary future involved train heists, legal sex work, and a lot of running from the feds?
Review: WALL-E Is Not a Realistic Take on Space Travel
If we move to space, it probably won't be because we filled up Earth with trash.
Review: When Homer Simpson Went to Space
"Deep Space Homer" aired only eight years after the real-life Challenger disaster.
ETC.
Andy Weir Is Looking Forward to the Space Boom
Weir's books take seriously the limits of human knowledge and planning when it comes to space travel.
Brickbats: December 2022
News of politicians and space bureaucrats behaving badly from around the galaxy.
