Our Visionary Concept
The emergence of commercial space travel for private citizens will take the world by surprise. The New Space Age will push us to our limits, challenge our thinking and tear down the various barriers that have kept us apart.
Despite the many rewards surrounding space travel, the obstacles that lie ahead of us in this journey to become a full-fledged space-faring society are tremendous. Most of these obstacles are not technical in nature. They are perceptional.
It was the excitement of the Apollo days that propelled us into space for the first time. It was the vision of a president and the resolution of a nation that brought about the success that came out of this great endeavor.
It was the cultural changes of the late 1960s and early 70s that ushered in this era of ambitious space projects and dreams of man truly conquering the space frontier.
But there is little left of our enthusiasm and resolve to become a space-faring civilization.
What most of us easily forget is that the early space program followed at least a decade of increasingly sophisticated space science fiction and space advocacy aimed at popularizing the idea of travel to the Moon and Mars.
With the progression of the space program during the 60s, media coverage percolated through our entire culture, spawning space-themed designs, products, architecture, cars, television shows, movies and other cultural images and ideas.
By the end of that decade, the idea that public space travel would appear at least by the end of the century continued to be propagated by the media and entertainment industries. However, that dream ended with the early termination of the Apollo program as well as the long, slow development of the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.
Curiously, there is very little public awareness of the scale of the coming New Space Age. Space travel is largely seen as exclusively for a hand-full of super-rich space enthusiasts. This is while the space industry predicts 100,000 space travellers by the end of the decade and multiple orbiting “space hotels” and sub-orbital “space tourism” excursions for the price of a mid-sized car. In this new dream of space, travel to the stars becomes possible for even the middle class.
Also, there is no substantial public awareness of the profound and positive impact that this New Space Age will have on our outlook, perspective and understanding of many Earth-based issues, ranging from the environment to international relations to resources, education and energy.
Many astronauts have predicted profoundly positive changes in these and other areas when substantial numbers of people experience the Overview Effect for themselves. That time is now upon us, yet the public is essentially unaware of it.
It is in such circumstances that StarPort has evolved, with a vision to breathe new life into the issue of space and space travel.
In order to bridge this gap in understanding and awareness, StarPort Café utilizes a wealth of information presented with stunning imagery to create an inviting space-themed environment, immersing its guests in the reality of the New Space Age, the Overview Effect and the implications for our world.
In addition, through its extensive contacts and partnerships in this new field, StarPort will be the link between enthusiasts and space leaders, providing informative audio, video and virtual presentations and coordinating personal appearances.
Our goal is to make a visit to StarPort Café an experience that reinforces the reality of the New Space Age. We will also serve as an informative center for the public on the impending changes the Overview Effect will create in our world.
In short, StarPort Café is designed to create new motivation toward space travel while becoming the natural community center of the coming New Space Age in whatever community it appears.