At ESA's Workshop on Space Exploration and Resources Exploitation (ExploSpace) held in Sardinia in October 20-22, there were sessions on a variety of longer-term possibilities in space, including Space Solar Power, Space Mining, Exploration, and Business & Financing. In the face of growing recognition of the potential of space tourism a session was also held on "Access to Space, Space Tourism and Public Outreach" in which three papers addressed the subject of space tourism seriously.

On C-SPAN 1, Saturday, 11/07/98 at 08:40pm to 10:15pm ET or 05:40pm to

NASA Watch, the website that is famously "on NASA's case" has opened a new section on "Tourism and other non-traditional uses of space". Although still under construction as of this writing, expect to see this grow in the coming months.

ST. LOUIS, 29 October 1998 - PRESS RELEASE

The Space Tourism Society hosts the Space Fair 98 at the Queen Mary

As Space Future turns one year old today, the two goals of space tourism and space power which are key to paying for human expansion into space, are looking better than ever before. Both topics are substantially more widely accepted today than even one year ago, though there's still a long way to go.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which was given responsibility for regulating commercial space activities in 1995 (though the funding authority remains different from that of the rest of the FAA) has started a study on how best to merge the monitoring and handling of aircraft traffic with rockets and space vehicles that travel to and from outer space.

Richard Branson, Founder and Chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways, spoke on the Discovery Channel on May 11 about his plans to offer space trips to the public, which he has mentioned before. "Never has the idea of space travel been more popular and most of us dream that we might just see the Earth from space during our lifetime. The exciting thing about technological development is that it can rapidly make the seemingly impossible become reality and nowhere is that more true than transport."

On May 8 an 8ft (2.4m) long model of Bristol Spaceplanes' "Ascender" spaceplane performed its first test flights, flying at upwards of 80 kph (50 mph). The model is being used to study the low-speed handling of the full-scale "Ascender" which is the size of a business jet, and will carry 4 people to space and back.