Space Future has been on something of a hiatus of late. With the concept of Space Tourism steadily increasing in acceptance, and the advances of commercial space, much of our purpose could be said to be achieved. But this industry is still nascent, and there's much to do. So...watch this space.
The first symposium on Personal Access to Space held by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) in Arcachon, France, May 28-30, 2008, was a mixture of both the encouraging and the discouraging.
Only Passenger Market Can Pay for Reusable Launch Vehicles
For the first time in Nasa’s more than 40-year history, Nasa funds have been used to ask US citizens whether they would like to take a trip to space - and the results strongly endorse Space Future's position.
SpaceProjects.com's Rich Robins has written a report of the recent FAA conference on space transportation, with a special focus on Patrick Collins and issues close to Space Future's heart:
Session Shows Up Folly of Current Space Leadership
Eight excellent papers concerning various aspects of space tourism were presented to an audience of about 100 people in the session "Space Tourism and other Novel Space Applications" held on October 7th at the 50th
IAF Congress in Amsterdam. (There were no other topics.)
University Student Projects Put Space Agencies to Shame
Two students in the Faculty of Tourism at Bournemouth University in England carried out surveys relating to space tourism in the 1998-99 academic year. (In a sign of the times, both students also published their work on the World Wide Web.)
STA "Going Public" conference featured heavy hitters from many industries
Over 100 people from around the world gathered at the Space Transportation Association's "Going Public" Space Tourism conference in Washington, D.C. to learn more about the issues inhibiting space tourism from becoming a viable endeavor.
Two Themes Receive Unprecedented Coverage at Annual Space Meet
The largest international space meeting each year is the annual Congress of the
International Astronautical Federation (
IAF), the 49th of which took place this year from September 28 - October 2 in Melbourne, Australia.