Thanks Dr., not important, but in the future I will be more judicious about the posts I comment on.
This stuff is just going to get better and better with time. We are advanced enough for people to escape our gravity well for short periods of time, but this will improve too. I just wish I were young enough or rich enough to make the trip myself but we cannot turn back the hands of time (yet). I was interested in the concept of space elevators for a while and cannot wait for one to be constructed. Philip Ragan, co-author of the book "Leaving the Planet by Space Elevator", states that "The first country to deploy a space elevator will have a 95 percent cost advantage and could potentially control all space activities.” The current cost to escape earth’s gravity is well over $1,100 / pound which could be reduced to as little as $100 / pound with a functional elevator.
