Paul F. Dietz wrote:
Muzz wrote:

How many years was it after Chris Columbus sailed the ocean blue
to the new world before Europe finally started to colonize?

Depends on what you mean by 'colonize'. Spain had already turned
a net profit on new world activities in less time than the 'space
age' has existed.

That's a poor comparison though, as space activities started
being commercialized, and started turning a profit, almost
instantly. Restricting the playing field to manned spaceflight
is, in my opinion, not justified.