On this special pledge drive edition of the Perpetual Notion Machine, we look into the possibilities of private spaceflight. Our guest is Julian Guthrie, the author of the book How to Make a Spaceship: A Band of Renegades, an Epic Race, and the Birth of Private Spaceflight. As a young boy, Peter Diamandis wanted to be an astronaut. He didn’t achieve that goal. But he might have done something greater – he created a competition where any person or team that could build a craft to reach space, return, and then be reused would win $10 million. He called it the XPRIZE. Many do-it-yourselfers from around the world tried to see if this was possible. But entrepreneur and airplane engineer Burt Rutan and his team were the only ones to make it in the Fall of 2004. Peter had wanted the XPRIZE to stimulate private spaceflight, where companies could offer tourist trips to space for the average person. That hasn’t happened. But the XPRIZE still exists as a foundation to help fund dreamers in all kinds of areas.

If you have a dream, you can go on Facebook to “howtomakeaspaceshipbook” and tell everybody your dream.

Thanks to everybody that pledged for PNM. Julian’s book How to Make a Spaceship is still available to anyone who pledges a donation. Just call 256-2001 or click the “Donate” button on the top of this page.