It has often seemed over the years that there are two government space programs. One is bold and experimental in its style and approach, giving me and the millions of other Americans who are paying for this something for our money.

It is absurd that more then 50 years into the age of human spaceflight, the entire world depends on one launch system to get people to and from space.

Although it was government that led the first wave over the barricades of gravity, it is now the people who are taking on the work, and all hands are needed.

In line with end-of-the-world prophecies linked to Mayan calendars, there's sudden noise on the Internet that Betelgeuse will become a supernova in 2012. The segue is that this will first give us Tattooine-like sunsets, then singe earth and all upon it.

In the battle for the Frontier, the stakes are whether the United States will lead the world into space or relinquish itself to second world status by repeating the failed policies of the past.