Civilian Astronauts progress report # 19 L media & temp
Civilian space travel to benefit coastal cities worldwide
Houston, Texas ? Feb. 17 ? The planned launch of the Mayflower
Expedition's initial civilian space flight late this year or early in 2000 is
likely to boost the economies of coastal cities around the world,
according to Harry Dace, who directs the Civilian Astronaut Corps
project from his headquarters near Houston's Johnson Space Center.
For example, the Los Angeles to Sydney route is a prime example of how
civilian space flight ? or sub-orbital space travel ? can benefit travelers.
"It's a 15- or 16-hour flight from L.A. to Sydney," Dace says, "using
commercial air. Most of that is dead time for the passengers.
Mayflower can travel the same distance in about 45 minutes. Which
makes better sense?"
All of the larger coastal cities such as Sydney, Lisbon, Bordeaux and
Rome could reap important benefits from not only business travel, but
from increased tourism, along with infrastructure expansion. "Look at it
this way," Dace explains. "Tourists are going to travel from the interior
of their homeland to watch the Mayflower rockets launching and landing
right off their coasts. They're going to need hotel rooms, gas stations,
restaurants and all the support facilities that accompany tourism."
"It's an exponential thing," Dace continues. "It's possible that highway
improvements between the interior and the coast may be needed in some
locations. Hotel construction is going to become priority, not only for
the tourists who travel to see the space flights, but also for the
passengers who travel aboard Mayflower."
With nine flights already fully booked to their six-passenger limit and
four others filling quickly, Dace sees the initial overwater flights
originating near Galveston Island, Texas, as being on course for launch
within the next 10 or 12 months.
"Tampa, Fla., will probably be the second city, after Galveston, to benefit
from our manned space flights," Dace says. "We'd fly from Galveston to
Tampa using the protected area over the Gulf of Mexico. After Tampa,
well, that might be from the West Coast to Honolulu, or New York City
to Miami."
New York to Miami route is a very heavy air-traffic route for business
people and tourists. Their time in the air is literally time that's thrown
away. Mayflower will travel the distance in 15 to 20 minutes of actual
flight time, meaning that the traveler can enjoy almost a full day at their
destination, over and above the flight time.
Jim Akkerman, a retired NASA propulsion and space systems engineer,
designed the CAC space vehicle.
Members of the Civilian Astronauts Corps are private citizens from
around the world who join the limited liability corporation to participate
in a private club that's pioneering civilian space flight. The membership
fee of $5,500 allows members to participate in a space voyage and when
the expedition's 340 flights have been flown to receive a partial rebate of
their fee when CAC sells its equipment to a commercial vendor.
Flight membership fees are held in escrow until approximately all of the
2,000 civilian astronauts have joined the mission. According to the
contract flight members can resign and have their full fee refunded at any
time until actual construction of the rocket begins.
Initially, Mayflower will make two flights a day, with plans to increase to
five or six daily as demand increases. The initial corps of 53 members
represented 11 countries, giving CAC a true international flavor. New
members are being added at a steady pace. The civilian astronauts include
a successful telecommunications entrepreneur, an emergency medical
technician, a retired mathematics professor and a television coordinator
of airtime for commercials.
For more information on CAC and the Mayflower Expedition,
contact Bob Orkand at Merger Communications, (713) 267-2328 or
Harry Dace at CAC, (281) 482-4005. Graphics and artists' concepts are
available.
Thank you for your continued interest in this important project.
Harry Dace
CAC Director
403 NASA Road 1 East, Suite 2000
Houston, Texas USA 77598
Tel: 281-482-4005
Fax: 281-482-8129
http://www.mayflowerrocket.com
cac@xxxxxxxxxxx
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