I don't know of anyone that is seriously looking at Orion anymore though. I suspect that whatever will eventually take us there will be to Orion as the Flying Scotsman is to Hero's Engine.
A trip to Alpha Centauri would be decidedly intra-galactic; the distance from the Sun to the edge of our galaxy is on the order of 4300 times the distance from the Sun to Alpha Centauri.
Yes, calling it "cross" galactic would certainly be stretching the definition of "cross". Though I suppose a "cross country" race is across the "countryside" though not across the country. ;)
Judging from the last two space operas i have read, the fashion is sending transhumans on single generation ships ( and playing with internal clocks to manage the subjective boredom).
And there are certainly a few people looking at interstellar travel. A great blog about this is
I don't know of anyone that is seriously looking at Orion anymore though. I suspect that whatever will eventually take us there will be to Orion as the Flying Scotsman is to Hero's Engine.