FROM RAND SIMBERG, more thoughts on the 50th Anniversary of Apollo.

It would be nice to have, for the first time since that historic announcement, a national discussion of why we have a human spaceflight program. The Augustine panel attempted to establish one a couple years ago, when it pointed out that if we don’t plan to settle space with humanity, there is little point to sending anyone there. But no one seemed to pick up on it, and it became lost in the hysterical reaction to the inevitable cancellation of the unaffordable and ill-conceived Constellation program, driven by a combination of concern about industry job losses and a misplaced and misunderstood sixties nostalgia.

This fiftieth anniversary would be an excellent time to make another attempt at it, but if history is any guide, we will let the opportunity pass once again. But fortunately, as the new space entrepreneurs make more and more visible progress in reducing costs and offereing exciting new services for all of us, and not just a select few government employees, it may not matter. Half a century after the false start, Americans will start to seek their own space dreams.

That’s the beauty of a free-market approach. It doesn’t depend on some bureaucrat or politician guessing right.