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Health & Fitness

Space Race 2.0

Space Race 2.0

Approximately 60 years ago a space race was announced which pit the United States against the U.S.S.R. This competition fueled massive investment into the aeronautical industry, improved education in the sciences throughout American schools, and generated the most interest in the hard sciences in decades. The space race, and the investments it generated, has fueled all subsequent spending and expansion in the space industry.

That was then. Now, however, the world is a much different place. The U.S.S.R. is no more (although a resurgent Russia challenges that statement), China is on the rise, and NASA has been mothballed. In this new world, there is a new space race.

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At stake is the future of funding from NASA, rights to provide supplies and personnel to the International Space System, and the lucrative commercial space market. Tourists and other potential users are already willing to pay up to (and over) $100,000 per trip for low-orbit space flights. With Tesla, Boeing, and Virgin Atlantic the most attention-grabbing firms involved in Space Race 2.0, this race is sure to be interesting.

Oh, and the potential price is worth tens of billions of dollars.

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