On Saturday, February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded over Texas. Columbia, on its twenty-eighth mission, was on its descent after a sixteen-day journey as it broke up. There were no survivors.

Dr. David Livingston is a business consultant and host of The Space Show, America’s only talk radio show focusing on increasing space commerce and developing space tourism. More information on The Space Show can be accessed at http://www.thespaceshow.com.

by Alan Breakstone

What Real People Want from Space

by Alan Breakstone

Scandinavian Connection To Space (SCTS) has recently been established in Sweden to promote the realisation of space tourism. Like a number of other companies, SCTS will act as an agent for space tourism-related services as they become available, while also working to raise finance to help it to happen. The principal, Paul Eklund, says to keep an eye on their web-site for announcements in the near future.

According to a recent space.com article, flights to space that now cost US$20 million per person may eventually drop to US$100,000.

By G.B. Leatherwood

Sadly, Lance Bass will not fly on the upcoming Soyuz “taxi flight,” as reported earlier. However, he is continuing his training, so the possibility remains open that he could fly next year. Bass has been tethered by a lack of necessary funding; his backers could not provide the $20 million in time.

In Mesquite, Texas, a small group of technicians and enthusiasts is quietly working to open space to the general public. Armadillo Aerospace is one of a growing number of start-up ventures attempting to accomplish what NASA and the big aerospace companies refuse to do: send paying passengers from all walks of life into space to find their destiny or to have a bit of fun.