SYSTEMS: Want to get involved in space travel but have missed out on the childhood dream of joining the ranks of NASA? There are now other ways of getting far above clouds after all, at least if you're willing to help fund a project. The Kickstarter model, inevitably. Read the full story on CNN.
Two years ago, many commentators were proclaiming the end of the space age. Sputnik, Gagarin, Armstrong, Apollo, SkyLab et al - a half a century or so lost to history.
The contention seemed hard to dispute: in 2011, NASA's Space Shuttle program was permanently retired when the Atlantis touched down to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, after completing its final voyage.
Around the same time, plans for a US-manned mission to Mars were shelved, and steps were put in place to decommission the International Space Station.
But as governmental funds have dried up, amateur space enthusiasts around the world are reviving humanity's interplanetary dreams through crowd-researched and crowd-funded space projects of their own.
Read the full story on CNN.
NB: Money space travel image via Shutterstock.