Space, still the final frontier

Just saw the footage of the Earth and moon that NASA released from the Deep Impact space probe.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/epoxi_transit.html

Unfortunately, it made me realize that space is still the final frontier.

It's been nearly 40 years since we went to the moon and it seems as though the collective thought process from the majority of the Terran governments is "well, that's far enough". To make matter worse, humans haven't set foot on the moon in over 30 years. I guess once we figured out how to put man-made metal objects in orbit around the planet, it seems as though those in charge thought it would be a better idea to find ways to put cameras and guns on them instead of find a way to put people in space on a more regular basis. But there I go again assuming that governments are designed to act in the best interests of the population, not the people who comprise the government...

Anyway, in case you haven't been following along, Sir Richard Branson's latest venture, Virgin Galactic, is starting to take shape.

http://www.virgingalactic.com/

Not only did they win the X PRIZE for being the first private team to build and fly a reusable spaceship, they're looking at creating a space tourism industry which will, hopefully, push the governments of the planet (specifically, the USA) into re-prioritizing the space program. I'm not sure how much Branson is going to be charging for a trip into sub-orbital space, but I'm interested in finding out. It's got to be less than the $20M that the Russians were charging.