It may seem timely, against a backdrop of climate change and a global pandemic, that this weeks successful mission by the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft raised the prospect of safe, commercial space travel.
Billionaire Elon Musks SpaceX completed its first crewed mission into space, with the Crew Dragon capsule splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico this week after a two-month space voyage.
Crew Dragon was the first privately-owned spacecraft to carry humans into space.
It was launched from NASAs Kennedy Space Station at Cape Canaveral on May 31 and made the 19-hour flight to the International Space Station where astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley spent two months before returning to Earth.
NASA reported that the capsule was travelling at a speed of some 28,000kms per hour before entering the Earths atmosphere, at which point its outer surface withstood temperatures reaching almost 2,000 degrees.
The capsule was then slowed by on-board thrusters and two sets of parachutes prior to splashdown.
The crew reportedly spent close to an hour floating inside the capsule before being recovered and flown to NASAs Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, for medical checks.
The mission was also NASAs first crewed mission from American soil in nine years, with recent expeditions to the International Space Station being launched out of Russia.
The successful mission established the credentials of Elon Musks private company SpaceX to transport people safely through space and marks the culmination of a project now 18 years in the making.
This is a craft made by humans, for humans, I think its something humanity should be proud about [it is the] first step on a journey that would see humans become a multi-planetary species, Musk was reported as saying at the launch.
US President Donald Trump reportedly responded to the successful mission of the Crew Dragon by saying: a new age of American ambition has now begun.
Under NASAs Commercial Crew Programme, we will use rockets and spacecraft designed, built, owned and launched by private American companies at a fixed price for the American taxpayer, the President said.
Musk is reportedly planning more adventurous commercial flights to the moon and even to Mars.
Indeed, an unmanned prototype of SpaceXs next-generation Starship vehicle has successfully flown to an altitude of 150m (500ft) before landing again.
The flight was carried out at SpaceXs test site near the village of Boca Chica in south Texas.
The stainless steel test vehicle, called SN5, looks a little bit like old Aussie water tank or wheat silo but, if Musk is to be believed, the final version which would stand 50 metres tall and be powered by six Raptor engines, could one day be capable of carrying as many as 100 humans to Mars.
Mars is looking real, tweeted Musk after the successful test flight.
The big challenge of course, is clearing the gravitational pull of the Earth and that, apparently, will require much more firepower.
And as for price well, so far Musk has signed up Japanese fashion mogul and billionaire, Yusaku Maezawa, for the first round-the-moon trip on the SpaceX Starship (for an undisclosed sum).
More than one Central Coast resident has written to us this week and pondered whether the repeal of the WAR Act (1996) opens up the opportunity for Council to pitch Warnervale Airport to Mr Musk as Australias own Cape Canaveral.
Well, Elon, how about it?
Ross Barry
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Welcome back to Planet Earth and thank you for flying SpaceX - Central Coast Community News