public space travel in 20 years?

How about using flying saucers?

As in rocket powered, that is. They'd launch from a high altitude station, then fire their rockets to boost into orbit. It would be an SSTO RLV that would use helicopter blades on reentry for cross range capability. The saucer shape should reduce heating on reentry to levels managable by cheapish materials.

Terraformer, do you mean the shape of a saucer would be the main reason for reducing heating, or are you suggesting that a saucer could spin, thus, never having the heat constantly on one are of the craft?

Interesting if a craft could come in while spinning to move the heat around it's hull, something that couldnt work for anything like a shuttle.

The shape of the sauer would reduce heating compared with low drag designs. I don't know what speed the Helcopter blades could be put into operation, though.