A Place to Stand

  SpaceX may file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as early as next month, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The IPO may value the company at more than $1.5 billion,

  Which brings me to some advice Heinlein gave in To Sail Beyond The Sunset given by the main character in her Prudence Penny investment column 

‘THE MOON BELONGS TO EVERYONE - but the first Moonship will belong to Harriman Industries.'

I advised them to hang onto their Prudence Penny portfolio... but to take every other dime they could scrape up and bet it on the success of D. D. Harriman's great new venture, placing a man on the Moon.

From then on ‘Prudence Penny' always had something to say about space travel and Harriman Industries in every column. I freely admitted that space was a long-term investment (and I continued to recommend other investments, all backed by Theodore's predictions) but I kept on pounding away at the notion that untold riches awaited those farsighted investors who got in early in space activities and hung on. Don't buy on margin, don't indulge in profit-taking - buy Harriman stock outright, put it away in your safety deposit box and forget it - your grandchildren will love you.

  Not with a perfect roadmap written out - which is why the first SpaceX launch to the ISS, which when previously scheduled for the beginning of February I said would usher in the commercial space age. It is now scheduled for late April and will do so. The trend is certain but the footsteps variable which is why "Don't buy on margin, don't indulge in profit-taking - buy Harriman stock outright, put it away in your safety deposit box and forget it - your grandchildren will love you."
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  Some folks understand that all that is required is a little encouragement to the free market.

The Virginia General Assembly is soon to consider a bill that will allow an income tax deduction of up to $8,000 (£5,100) for burials in space, WTVR reports.
The tax break for families who decide to commemorate their loved ones by hurling their earthly remains as far away as possible is part of a plan to boost the prospects of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia.

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  And a question for American supporters of an X-Prize Foundation:

How would you feel about other countries joining in by providing the Foundation with a proportionate amount calculated by GDP? I suspect Canada would add happily add 6% & that Israel would be a net beneficiary.
If it is that good a deal why should America share it? One reason would be that if it were established by treaty it would be more secure from political fashion - back when NASA was preparing to launch Skylab it came close to being cancelled by the Luddites in Congress but a critical argument stopping this was that the Europeans had signed a treaty buying a module on it.
I would like to think that my own country, Britain, would be willing to switch our space effort (£275 million a year) from the European Space agency (a bureaucracy that makes NASA look mean and lean) to such a Foundation, but have doubts about our political establishment being smart enough to spot a no-brainer.