Destination: "Goaltender"

"Imagine if this story was true. Would it not be exciting to have men and women of vision running our space program? Instead of the government bureaucrats that NASA has. I like the vision that Musk and Bezos share. I like bold. It is what made America great."      

Elon Musk sat back in his office chair, thinking about the state of the world. About the state of his company, SpaceX. Much has happened during this past year, and 2025 is right around the corner. Once again, while the world played checkers, Musk continued to play chess. Now the biggest gamble of his life was about to pay off. 

He had been a space nut for years. Part adventure, part panic. Panic that the good people of Planet Earth needed a "Plan B". You know - just in case. Just in case we need an escape plan. In any event, like many of us, he gave up on NASA years ago. To say NASA traveled at the speed of turtles is an insult to turtles. So in 2002, Elon Musk gambled a good part of his fortune to form a new company - SpaceX. His goal since the get-go, was to reduce the cost of space travel so much so, trips to the Moon and Mars could become commonplace.

In 2022, Musk made his first landing on the Moon. It was unmanned, and the rocket was able to land safely, and then take off safely for travel back to Earth. Then Musk made the second biggest gamble of his life. He made an offer to Jeff Bezos to have joint operations with Bezo's company, Blue Origins. Having these two privately funded ventures travel somewhat parallel paths to space made no sense to Musk. Join forces, and the path forward could be quicker and smoother. He also invited two "money men" with very deep pockets to invest and be part of the team. One American, and one European. It turned out to be a very smart move indeed.

As the Chinese, the Russians, the Indians and the Israelis, continued to send manned and unmanned rockets to the Moon, they were basically doing what America did in 1969. Musk however, had much bigger and bolder ideas. He was going to build the first operational Moon base. And it was going to be called Goaltender. Why Goaltender? It would be the safety net for all leaving and returning space craft. They would land on the Moon, be serviced there (by SpaceX, of course) and then stored (by SpaceX) until the next flight. Just like with airports, to use the SpaceX Moon Base, along with all the amenities, there would be a fee charged. A big one.

The first ship to use Goaltender will be Musk's own Striker One. Goaltender is scheduled to be operational by 2027, and Striker One is scheduled to launch for Mars no later than mid 2028. The goal is to use Musk's 100 passenger Starship, powered by one of Musk's "super heavy" rocket platform. If everything goes according to Hoyle, it should make it to Mars by 2030. Meanwhile, back at NASA, all they can do is watch in wonder.

Imagine if this story was true. Would it not be exciting to have men and women of vision running our space program? Instead of the government bureaucrats that NASA has. I like the vision that Musk and Bezos share. I like bold. It is what made America great.