“The stars up here are unbelievable. It looks like someone has spread diamond dust over a black velvet blanket.” ~ Anousheh Ansari, the first female spaceflight participant, blogging from the International Space Station

By Catherine Austin Fitts

I just finished this history of the entrepreneurs who developed the commercial private space industry by authors Chris Dubbs and Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom. I chose it as it was on the U.S.A.F. Chief of Staff 2013 Professional Reading List Selection.

Realizing Tomorrow was published in 2011. Consequently, it does not fully explain the changes in US policy that occurred in 2010 or the impact of the successful SpaceX’s missions to the International Space Station in 2012.  Which means a lot has happened in the few years since the book was written. Nor do the authors touch on or speculate operations and funding that may have occurred over the same time through the black budget.

Nonetheless, it is an invaluable, well written history of the intrepid entrepreneurs, engineers and visionaries who have kept alive the dream that our destiny is to travel the stars. Here are stories of persistent people who were not afraid to try and try again. Their names and legacies are well worth recording and remembering.

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