the limits of commercial space travel

now that the x-prize has been won, the optimists among us envisioned a very jetson's-like future. and, it could be possible someday. however, it turns out the limits of space travel exist in the law books, not the science books. a bill allowing many types of this travel has sputtered and died in congress.
the bill is filled with sentimental fluff. of course space travel is "inherently risky." common sense, not a bill, can tell us that. glenn reynolds points out that no one needs to ensure the "highest levels of safety" for passengers and crew of these spacecraft- that isn't even required of the much more common high-risk operations such as roller coasters. the burgeoning industry will suffer for its novelty - congress is afraid of the new and unknown. roller coasters and other high-risk endeavors may have gotten off easy because they were around long before the gov't got its hand into protecting our safety in high-risk endeavors.