Particles (known as meteoroids) that come from interplanetary space, on the other hand, are natural.

ECONOMIST: Orbital debris

Many forecasters, though, think that most of the near-term growth in space launches will come from another source: space tourism.

ECONOMIST: SpaceShipOne

In an amusing Super Bowl ad that debuts on TV on Sunday, the Kia brand explains where babies come from (outer space).

FORBES: Kia Super Bowl Ads For Sorento, Forte Models Use Space Babies and Hot Bots

Many Americans recognize the unsurpassed science and inspiration that have come from the Hubble Space Telescope over the past two decades, as well as from its less famous sister satellites like the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Spitzer Space (Infrared) Telescope and the Fermi gamma-ray observatory.

CNN: Space is still the new frontier

How fitting, then, that evidence unearthed not far from Roswell suggests that life could indeed have come to earth from outer space.

ECONOMIST: Old salts

It's a sign of just how far technology--and capitalism--have come that space is evolving from a testing ground for rival superpowers into a billionaire's playground.

FORBES: Billionaires In Space

They hope to drive the program into a political and technological dead-end by denying it the synergy and efficiency that can come from an integrated management structure and by diverting funds from space- to ground-based defensive systems.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Hapless SDI damsel in distress: Awaiting a hero

And many more come from couples splitting up and neither having the space nor the inclination to keep the animal.

BBC: Pam Mansfield's exotic animal sanctuary faces big bills

Some of the technology has come from ideas suggested by the Interplanetary Network, which is looking at ways of providing net connectivity in space.

BBC: Hi-tech answer to reindeer tracking

What if strong competition were to come into the MMORPG space (massively multiplayer online role playing game) and take market share away from World of Warcraft?

FORBES: World Of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2 And Vivendi: Activision's Achilles' Heel