2010 is the year everything changes for space travel. This won’t be the year that we land humans on Mars or even back on the Moon. We won’t have Ares V ready to go nor will Virgin Galactic take paying customers on sub-orbital flights. No, 2010 is the year that the foundation work for our species to live, work and play in space is created.

For the first time in over 20 years we have a blue Moon on new years eve. It is a beautiful sight in the sky and if you’re reading this on December 31st, 2009 or January 1st, 2010 I highly suggest you look up and just take in the sight. It’s almost as if the Moon knew that we were trying to become something more. Striving to move to space. The moon is sitting there high in the sky daring us to return.

And return we shall.

Companies like Masten Space Systems, XCOR, Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, Armadillo Aerospace and many others are all striving to push us to space in new and innovative ways. These companies are not just rehashing what has been done for the last 40 years but rather are reinventing the entire industry. Virgin Galactic will take consumers on sub-orbital flights en masse, something never done before. SpaceX will take astronauts to the International Space Station for a fraction of the cost that the Space Shuttle can do it. Masten and Armadillo are creating next generation vehicles that can take payloads to space for a fraction of the cost that any of the traditional companies can do it today. These players are changing the industry and with it how we look at and imagine space.

You can already see the tipping point starting to take shape. Sites like News.com, Engadget.com, Gizmodo.com, Slashdot.org and others are picking up a lot more space related stories than before. Some of these sites even have dedicated space news writers. Whereas a year ago Spacevidcast was the only weekly news show on space, we now have a couple of other contenders in the marketplace helping to spur the imagination of everyone on the planet. Even if you’re not a space nerd who lives, eats and breaths TLAs you can feel the shift happening. You can feel the excitement growing. No longer will the masses support Low Earth Orbit only. People want the moon. People want Mars. People want space.

40 years ago humans got a taste of what it was like to be a space faring civilization. We yearn to have that excitement back. It only takes one voice, one idea, one person to change the world. 2010 will reveal those people who will begin this shift back to the cosmos. It will be an amazing year to be a space nerd, and I’m excited to share it with all of you. The old guard is retiring. It is time for the next generation to take over and bring humans back to their rightful place amongst the stars.

50 years from now when we look back I am certain we will point to this year, 2010, as the year that everything began to change.  This is the start of humans living, working and colonizing space. This is the year that change begins. This is the tipping point.