Happy B-day Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking turned 65 today. On his birthday, he announced that he will be traveling into space on Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo, in the year 2009.

In the past year Hawking has become outspoken on the issue of space colonization. In a widely quoted statement made at a lecture in Hong Kong last year, Stephen said, “it is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species.”

In recent years, the X Prize competition, Scaled Composites’ first successful privately funded manned flight into space, and subsequent investment by billionaire iconoclast, Sir Richard Branson have kept the message of space colonization top of mind.

As William S. Burroughs like to say, “We are here to go.”