I heard Robert Bigelow speak at a conference on Capitol Hill years back. Interesting guy. I really think that space entrepreneurship is insanely exciting and I

I heard Robert Bigelow speak at a conference on Capitol Hill years back. Interesting guy. I really think that space entrepreneurship is insanely exciting and I'd love to see more people get into it. I think in our lifetimes we'll see some incredible progress in private space exploration -- if we all step up and use our entrepreneurial energies in this direction. Sure, I'm insanely excited about the iPhone's video chatting features, which Steve Jobs raved about today in the context of growing up watching Star Trek and seeing this sort of thing on TV. But if you're talking Star Trek, let's talk space travel! I spent a summer in college working for Space Adventures (http://www.spaceadventures.com http://www.spaceadventures.com), which at the time had very much a "startup" feel despite having arranged for "space tourist" Dennis Tito to fly to the International Space Station (and in more recent years, sending up people like Microsoft Word developer Charles Simonyi and signing up Sergey Brin as a future client). (Forbes has details about the early days here: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2005/0509/058.html. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2005/0509/058.html.) Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Paul Allen are dabbling in space ventures. And Richard Branson, with Virgin Galactic, has made space entrepreneurship sexy. But I'd love to see a lot more young entrepreneurs and investors focusing on space entrepreneurship. Sure, iPhone apps and websites can help improve people's lives. But do you really want to have an impact on the course of human history? Do something in space! Space Adventures was founded by a young entrepreneur in his 20s, Eric Anderson, just two years out of college, who dared to think big. It started in his basement. We should all think big, too.