"Beyond all the political and economic rationales, spaceflight is a
spiritual quest in the broadest sense, one promising a revitalization
of humanity and a rebirth of hope no less profound than the great
opening out of mind and spirit at the dawn of the modern age.'

Try that argument on a venture capitalist and see how far you get.

Look, people understandably but innaccurately peg me as somehow
anti-space, when what I'm really saying is "If you want to go to space,
come up with an irresistable business model and the privale money to do
will start rolling in. If you can't do that, it won't, and since space
is gosh-darn expensive, you won't be able to get there."

The definition of an irresistable business plan is one that the venture
capitalists can't resist. You can kvetch about NASA making it harder
to come up with one, but that's just part of the challenge. So what
I'm saying is that the fastest way to get to space is to focus your
energy on an irresistabe, short-term business plan.

"Give me 200 billion becuase of your built-in drive to explore" doesn't
seem to be working.