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.
Dennis Tito's space flight is a resounding victory for freedom, democracy, Russia and capitalism in space - over the forces of government control, bureaucracy, Goldin's Nasa and monopoly.
Under the title "Money Could Buy Next Giant Leap In Space, Aldrin Says", Reuters' Dayan Candappa reported a meeting between Buzz Aldrin and Arthur C Clarke in which they agreed that space tourism is IT.
Space Future's Unique Vision Gaining Ever-Wider Acceptance
In the blizzard of media discussion of what the 21st Century will be like, the number of journalists who recognise the role that passenger space travel will play in the world economy is vanishingly small. Yet passenger space travel will bring about a transformation of the world economy in the 21st century as significant for human development as the European 'Renaissance' in the 15-16th centuries.
German TV show to fly 7 contestants to space station
Space tv AG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the German television production company Brainpool of Cologne, is reported to have made reservations for 7 flights in the Russian 'Soyuz' launch vehicle between 2002 and 2008 to allow selected people to visit the Russian sector of the International Space Station.
Recommends Review of UK Launcher Development Policy - Independent of National Space Agency
Three months after US Transportation Secretary Slater became the first Cabinet-rank official to use the "T Word", the 10th report of the British government's Trade and Industry Committee also discussed space tourism and recommended:
First Ever Virtual Space Tourism Project Gets into Gear
On June 15, LunaCorp announced that Radioshack had become its first corporate sponsor. Lunacorp has been working for more than 10 years to put together a commercial lunar rover project, from which real-time 360-degree video would be transmitted back to viewers on Earth, and which would even allow selected guests to drive its rover from motion-simulators through two-way communications links.
US Transportation Secretary Moves to Support Space Tourism
In a little-reported speech to the US Space Foundation in Colorado Springs on April 4, US Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, who is responsible for roads, shipping, railways, aviation and commercial space, made the following statements about space tourism:
As the "T Word" crops up more and more frequently in discussions of future space activities, senior figures in the space industry find themselves obliged to use the word and to acknowledge that tourism is going to become the biggest business in space. This often leads these people to venture guesses as to when space tourism may actually start. Interestingly, each date mentioned gets pushed farther into the future. In this way, taxpayers continue paying US$25 billion every year for current space activities, although these are clearly not leading towards the realisation of space tourism. These attempts to spread unrealistic projections to the public will presumably increase as the truth about tourism gets ever more coverage.
Energiya, a space technology company, and Gold & Appel, a holdings firm, recently established a joint venture, MirCorp, whose purpose is to commercialise the orbiting space station, Mir.