Digital Sprocket

I don’t know if you can remember the early 1990’s. It’s ancient history after all. Back then I was attending the University of Rochester, and there was a buzz in popular media about dangers posed by Generation X. Those GenX’ers were a bunch of slackers and drifters. They had no plans for the future, were disengaged from the values of previous generations, and had no desire to enter the traditional corporate world. Being a member of Generation X, I was grumpy about all of these reports. Sure, I had no idea what I was going to do with myself, but that didn’t mean it was the end of Western Civilization.

Then something unexpected happened. GenX’ers attending colleges and universities across the country were introduced to the fledgling Internet. At that point there was no global system, but most universities were connected by email and a few other basic utilities. Outside of school electronic bulletin boards popped up. All over campus, young men crowded around new pieces of computer hardware, and anyone with the labeled “hacker” also wrote his own code.

Fast-forward five years. Bulletin boards evolved into the first Internet Service Providers. Anyone with right-of-way was laying down fiber optic cable as fast as possible. ISP’s doubled in size overnight, and bought new hardware as soon as it came out, and new websites with new services popped up every day. Those slacker GenX’ers fueled this explosive growth. We were the front-line troops, answering angry phone calls when stock quotes were unavailable. We installed routers in a cage in the thirds floor men’s room. We configured dial-up modems for grandpa who was born before WWII. We transformed the communications landscape of the world.

This revolution generated amazing profits for new generation of millionaires. These men and women had no connection to traditional sources of wealth, and a few articles at the time wondered if they would learn how to employ the capital at their command. It was even reported that some had hired consultants to teach them the basics of philanthropic donation.

Well, They’ve figured out what to do with their money. They’re creating new aerospace businesses and fueling new space based industries.

John Carmack of Armadillo Aerospace made a bundle creating Doom, and now he and his team are building and testing rockets. They recently attempted to claim a $350,000 prize at the Wirefly X Prize Cup by demonstrating a lunar lander design. While unable snag the prize, their vehicle still took off, hovered, and landed several time.

Paul Allen from Microsoft reportedly funded Burt Rutan’s development of Spaceship One to the tune of $20 million.

Elon Musk, creator of Paypal, is the owner and impetus behind SpaceX. Their first test flight may have failed, but they are continuing work on the Falcon family of rockets, and won a $250 million development contract from NASA for cargo shipments to the ISS.

Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com founded Blue Origin. The company is chasing the single stage to orbit (SSTO) dream at their facility in Texas.

From slackers to space pioneers, Generation X underwent an impressive transformation over the last fifteen years. Private spaceflight is still a fledgling industry, but if GenX could guide the Internet from an esoteric field to an integral component of everyday life, then we may yet do the same