AWST reports that Sen. John Glenn (D.-Ohio), the first American to orbit the Earth (in 1961), has a "..burning desire to go back to space..." NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin is reported to be considering his request to fly again. Glenn is 76 years old, and he would become the oldest person to visit space.

It is very unlikely that there will be any health problems due to his age, provided that he's in normal health - since going to orbit and living in zero G is not stressful. However, NASA is not allowed to carry people other than professional staff related to the work of each mission on board the space shuttle, and it seems unlikely that US taxpayers will wish to pay for his trip. Now if some company was only offering tourist flights... -SFJ

Q: The St. Louis-based X Prize Foundation has announced that 10 teams have registered to compete in the first private race to space. Could you shed some light on your plan to participate?

A: This [race] is extremely important and interesting, because I think it can [lead to] flight out of the atmosphere--just what the barnstormers opened up to flight in the atmosphere. It won't be done by NASA. And it won't be done by governments, and it won't be done by industry. It will be done by the barnstormers of space. That's what will let the common man fly out of the atmosphere. I think even suborbital flights--where you have 3 to 5 minutes of weightlessness--will be so much fun that it will be a profit-making tourism business. I have structured a plan, and a preliminary design, and a unique way at addressing the factors that make rockets dangerous, and eliminating those dangers. And if those guys put that money in the bank for the prize-winners to get, I'm going to go after it. Sure, why not?