With NASA’s space shuttle program coming to an end, it’s time to start rethinking about how our country is going to explore space. The U.S. government currently spends as much money on air-conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan as it does on NASA’s entire budget, so we’re thinking maybe private spaceflight might be the future of space exploration. But is private industry up to the challenge? The answer: almost.

NPR talks to Elon Musk, the Silicon Valley mogul behind the Tesla electric car, about his company SpaceX. He says his new rocket, the Falcon Heavy, will be able to fly into orbit at a cost of about $1,000 a pound, which is about $9,000 cheaper than NASA does it for. The problem is that it’s still pretty expensive; sending a single man into space would still cost at least $100,000. The goal, according to both Musk and Michael Gass (CEO of United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing), is $100 per pound.

Why is space travel important? Well, just look at the things it’s given us: GPS, cordless tools, freeze-dried food and tons of different advanced, waterproof fabrics. Let’s just hope Musk and his competitors, both publicly and privately funded, can keep America’s space ambitions alive.

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Photo: Matthew Simantov, Flickr, CC