The future of space travel appears bleak right now, but it is not going away. Mankind will live, work, and travel, in space. It's not a matter of if, but when.
George Friedman, a geopolitical scientist and author of "The Next 100 Years" predicts that the World War III will be the first war in which some battles will be fought in space. The reason for this is space-based weapons not unlike the ones seen in Bond movies "GoldenEye" and "Die Another Day." The Japanese will challenge the American military dominance over space much the same way they challenged the American dominance over the seas nearly 70 years ago. Friedman's predictions are not guaranteed to come true, but given his sound arguments, I agree that at least some of the events he predicts are likely to happen.