Richard Branson's Remarks at the
Unveiling of Virgin Galactic's
SpaceShipTwo
SpaceRef.com


"So before Burt and I unveil WhiteKnightTwo and
SpaceShipTwo, and Burt tells you about how this
technology will work, I would like to take a few minutes
to talk about why I consider space to be the final frontier
that is so essential to the future of civilization on this planet.

It was Stephen Hawking who first got me thinking about
this issue, when he explained clearly and concisely to the
BBC that mankind had no option but to get to space as
quickly as possible and start doing things up there that we
have been doing on planet Earth, but in a much more
efficient manner.

Our population is now heading to 9 billion people by the middle
of this century -- that's three times more than when I was born.
With the end of the oil era approaching, and climate change
progressing faster than most models have been predicting, the
utilization of space is essential not only for communications
but also for the logistics of survival..." "I also believe that someday
we will be able to use space as a source of energy for the
planet, through solar power satellites, using the most
sustainable source available - our Sun.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=26774


My kinda guy~

s