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I knew this was not the message the committee wanted to hear, but it was the truth they needed to hear, so I pressed on, reminding them of the benefits of space tourism. Properly planned and implemented, space tourism could help cut the cost of space access by 50 to 70 percent, I told them. This lower-cost system will deliver several benefits:

The United States will recapture the lion’s share of the global satellite market.

NASA’s planetary probes will become far more affordable.

Space hotels will become feasible, providing greater volume at far lower costs than the International Space Station.

The launchers for space hotels and space tourists will be equally ideal for expeditions to the moon and Mars, as well as to launch massive military payloads like space-based lasers and future solar-based satellites.

Perhaps the greatest long-term benefit will be the mass production of spaceflight, the high-flight-rate, high reusability and high reliability. The nation that establishes a two-stage fully reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle will lead the world for the next thirty to forty years in charting the space frontier.

I contrasted these positive effects with the current situation in which the exorbitant cost of the space shuttle and the International Space Station operations have become a millstone around the neck of our space exploration programs and the American taxpayers.

I knew I had the committee’s full attention now, so I proceeded to answer their question about some of the hurdles that had to be addressed before space tourism could become self-sustaining. I’m sure I surprised the members when I said, “Actually it may be self-sustaining already. Some Russian officials have said that Dennis Tito’s check covered the entire out-of-pocket cost of launching the Soyuz rocket that took him to the space station. If space tourism already makes financial sense when you fly Russian expendable rockets—what happens when their technology becomes reusable—when Russian launch costs suddenly drop and their safety goes way up?”

I went on to point out something that many of the committee members probably didn’t know: “We Americans have spare seats for rich tourists, too. The space shuttle often flies with only five or six people, when it can hold seven to eight. The United States could be learning about space tourism, using the assets it already has. Flying passengers on the shuttle can be part of the research that leads to new vehicles, based on first-hand experience with the shuttle tourists. So I have to say that NASA’s refusal to actively encourage passengers on the shuttle is a major hurdle.”

Ouch. I could almost feel the committee members wince as they came face-to-face with the truth that one of the biggest hurdles to advancing in space is our own space administration.

I talked a bit about the difficulties in raising capital for space tourism, or even accessing loans to finance the business. I knew from my experience with StarBoosters that lenders were skittish about loaning money to what they regarded as a highly speculative start-up industry.

Since the gloves were off now, I figured I might as well lay it all out candidly before the congressional committee:

Another hurdle is the current structure of the space transportation industry. Two major private companies, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, formed a monopoly [United Space Alliance] to operate the space shuttle. Even monopolies have good ideas from time to time, and one idea was to turn the Columbia orbiter into a commercial vehicle, one that might take passengers. NASA’s reaction was to have the president of the monopoly fired.

On the military space side, the two major companies were both given contracts for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle. With the 20/20 clarity of hindsight, we can now see that this was a mistake. Now neither of them has any incentive to develop reusable vehicles, despite what may be said for public consumption, at least until they’ve recovered their considerable costs sunk in the new systems.

I could see on some of the committee