XPrize Foundation
I have been blessed to be able to work over the last decade with an extraordinary, talented and passionate group of visionaries at the XPRIZE Foundation who have managed to change the way the world thinks about space flight. We persevered through a continuous stream of roadblocks and hurdles in pursuit of an “impossible” dream.
In October of 2004 Burt Rutan’s Spaceship One captured the ten million dollar Ansari XPRIZE, inspiring the next generation of astronauts,
entrepreneurs, and explorers to once again dream about our future in space. I feel like I am one step closer to a childhood dream of flying into space – and a part of me did fly. Burt carried several of my sculptures into space on the second launch. But even as we celebrate the past, and enjoy the technology of today – We must look forward into the future.
What new benefits will be gained from better access to space? Where is the end of possibility? Where are the borders of imagination, reality, art or fact in the unlimited frontier of space? I
don't know… But I want to find out! And I want to take you with me.
Perhaps the most important aspect of space travel is the shift in perspective that the astronauts describe when seeing our home planet from space. Sociologists have coined this term the “overview perspective”. Everything they know and love and depend upon to survive is down below them illuminated by the Earthshine. The only thing protecting the Planet from the inhospitable vacuum of space is a very thin blue shroud of atmosphere that we must protect if our children are to survive and thrive into the future. Imagine if you will, sending our world leaders and politicians into space to experience this overview perspective… and as an added benefit to humankind we could leave them there!
~ Erik R. Lindbergh
www.xprize.org
