Columbia

Yesterday marked the eleventh anniversary of the morning space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry.  It not only cost seven lives, but it also marked the beginning of the end of the shuttle era.

Today, we are on the verge of the commercial era of manned spaceflight.  That era will begin with suborbital flights, perhaps later this year, but companies are already looking at orbital excursions to space hotels, and even at trips to the Moon.