Mr. B's Big Plan

摘要

Flying into las vegas on a west-bound airliner, I gaze down at the casinos along the famous Strip, miles long, glowing in the night. It occurs to me that the city where Robert T. Bigelow-owner of the first privately held real estate in space-lives and works is itself a kind of satellite outpost, surrounded by harsh, empty desert. It's a fitting spot from which to control a pair of mini-space stations, Genesis I and II, launched in July 2006 and June 2007.