--- title: We Need a Better Way to Go to Space description: Why we need a better way to get to space, why the U.S. can't be the worlds only cyberpower and more. canonical: https://time.com/4102855/we-need-a-better-way-to-go-to-space/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-09T13:55:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:01:01.875Z article:section: Ideas og:title: We Need a Better Way to Go to Space og:description: These are today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/4102855/we-need-a-better-way-to-go-to-space/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: We Need a Better Way to Go to Space twitter:description: These are today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # We Need a Better Way to Go to Space by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Nov 9, 2015 1:55 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Nov 9, 2015 1:55 PM UTC **1\.** [**It’s not rocket science: we need a better way to get to space**](https://theconversation.com/its-not-rocket-science-we-need-a-better-way-to-get-to-space-45751) By Leon Vanstone in the Conversation **2\.** [**The U.S. needs to accept that it is not the world’s only cyberpower.**](http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/cyberattacks-digital-security-by-carl-bildt-2015-10) By Carl Bildt in Project Syndicate **3\.** [**Can the U.S. military halt its brain drain?**](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/us-military-tries-halt-brain-drain/413965/) By David Barno and Nora Bensahel at Defense One **4\.** [**Coal use is shrinking — and it’s saving lives.**](http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/03/opinions/bloomberg-brune-coal-climate-change/index.html) By Michael Bloomberg and Michael Brune at CNN **5\.** [**Here’s how short-term thinking hurt the long-term success of the American worker.**](http://aspen.us/journal/editions/novemberdecember-2015/did-short-term-thinking-harm-long-term-success-us-workers) By Maureen Conway in the Aspen Journal of Ideas  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4102855/we-need-a-better-way-to-go-to-space/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4102855/we-need-a-better-way-to-go-to-space/"},"headline":"We Need a Better Way to Go to Space","datePublished":"2015-11-09T13:55:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:01.875Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4102855/we-need-a-better-way-to-go-to-space/","keywords":["Innovation","NASA","coal","Hacking","Pentagon"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4102855/we-need-a-better-way-to-go-to-space/","name":"We Need a Better Way to Go to Space"}}]}] ```