Space Future has been on something of a hiatus of late. With the concept of Space Tourism steadily increasing in acceptance, and the advances of commercial space, much of our purpose could be said to be achieved. But this industry is still nascent, and there's much to do. So...watch this space.
Until recently pointedly ignored by the "space establishment", the subject of space tourism continues to get discussed more and more seriously and frequently. In the February 9-15 issue of
Space News it appeared in two separate articles.
T3 Magazine is the latest mainstream magazine to cover Space Tourism
The stream of space vehicle and tourism coverage in the media continues into 1998. The March edition of "T3", a UK technology oriented magazine, features a 5 page article on Space Tourism, concentrating both the problems with the existing space programme in general and NASA in particular, and on the commercial sector, focusing on the companies Bristol Spaceplanes and Zegrahm Space Voyages. Honorable mentions also go to Kelly Space technology, Kistler Aerospace and Rotary Rocket.
TV star Akiko Hinagata was given an out-of-this-world birthday present. During a televised celebration, her friends reserved a seat for her on the "space cruiser," a craft that could become the first private passenger vessel in space.
Buzz Alrin's new popularity shows both that there's a lot of interest in him still, and that the general public are becoming increasingly interested in space again. Florida Today carried this article covering the return of the second man on the moon to the publicity spotlight:
From "The Rapidly Changing Face of Computing", a weekly technology journal providing insight, analysis and commentary on contemporary computing and the technologies that drive it, available at http://www.digital.com/rcfoc/:
"Hotel Mir: The American Plan" by Harvey
Wichman, Director of the Aerospace Psychology Laboratory, Huntingdon Beach, California published in
Space News, included the comments:
Hotel industry experts don't foresee orbital hotels soon
An article in December's "Wired" magazine entitled "Reality Check: The Future of Hotels" asked the question: "Might we one day blast off to soak in whirlpool spas in outer space?" It published comments on the idea from three hotel industry professionals.
Shuttle might expand into space tourism - surely not?
Space News Oct 6-12 carried a front page story about privatizing space shuttle operations: "Shuttle haggling begins: NASA, company see different paths to privatization"
Readers survey finds space is most popular ambition
The readers write-in column "Tell Yui" ("Yui and readers' talking club") in the November issue of the monthly Japanese magazine "New Type" carried readers' answers to the question: "What would you like to do once before you die?"