Zogby/Futron/Nasa Market Study Confirms Space Tourism Popularity

To commemorate the first anniversary of the historic first space tourist flight by Dennis Tito, the Space Tourism Society held its first annual awards presentation ceremony on April 27 at the Santa Monica Community College Concert Theatre, Santa Monica. Featuring a speech and video presentation by Dennis Tito, and speeches by other leading figures in the growing field of space tourism, the evening included the presentation of the 2002 Space Tourism Pioneer "ORBIT" Awards to (in alphabetical order) David Ashford, Bob Citron, Patrick Collins, Peter Diamandis, William Gaubatz, David Gump, Jason Klassi, Chuck Lauer, Tom Rogers (lifetime award) and John Spencer.

In an illustrated article “Learning to Fly, Strip, and Vomit on a 727”, Penn Jillette gives a wonderfully zany description of the thrill of floating in weightlessness here. (It also describes how, until aviation authorities finally certify companies to offer these services through commercial ticket sales, it’s possible to ‘get round’ regulations by becoming a ‘company employee’, as the author did along with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, among others.)

In a short item entitled “Tourism Cost Realities” in Aviation Week and Space Technology (February 4, p 17) Boeing gives some hints about recent work on a space tourism vehicle. Boeing's conclusion is that they could not develop that vehicle on a commercial basis - but the figures they quote actually strongly support the case for funding the production of space tourism vehicles.

On February 21, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) will give their much-sought-after award for 'Americanism' to Dennis Tito, the first person in history to pay his own way to space. In doing this the BSA are reminding Americans of who they are, of what it was about Americans that made the USA the richest country in the world. At their best they are pioneering, entrepreneurial, individual, visionary. The BSA's full citation can be found on the Wilshire company's web-site.

By Patrick Collins

The Presidential Commission on the Future of the US Aerospace Industry was established by President Bush to make recommendations to solve a range of problems facing the industry. These problems, from overspending to failed projects, have arose partly from its decline since the end of the cold war and partly from stagnation at Nasa.

The very positive report on the feasibility of space tourism published by Nasa in March 1998 is now available via Nasa's web-site. Typing 'space tourism' into the search form brings it up as the 3rd reference, dated 25 July, 2001. This follows three and a half years during which Nasa administrator Goldin prevented it being publicly accessible.