Space Review Looks at Commercial Space

SpaceX's Falcon 9 on the pad at Cape Canaveral. (Credit: Chris Thompson/SpaceX)

In The Space Review this week:

Picking up the torch vs. dropping the ball
Have recent achievements demonstrated that the development of space launch systems is now within the realm of individual investors? Dwayne Day criticizes a recent analysis that tried to make that case.

An embarrassment of riches
It sounds like the perfect definition of “swords into plowshares”: converting ICBMs into satellite launch vehicles. Wayne Eleazer discusses the controversy proposals to do so have generated in the US launch industry over the years.

Space leaders support commercial crew to ISS and accelerated human exploration beyond
Last week a diverse group of space industry leaders released a joint letter supporting key elements of NASA’s proposed new direction. Alan Stern provides some background about the letter as well as the letter itself.

An Intrepid quest for a shuttle in New York
Among the sites seeking one of NASA’s space shuttles upon their retirement is New York’s Intrepid museum. Jeff Foust examines how the museum stacks up against the competition and whether a shuttle would be good fit in the Big Apple.

The diary of Juhzoh Okita, exobiologist
Earlier this month the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa returned to Earth with a capsule scientists hope contains samples of an asteroid. Dwayne Day engages in a bit of fictional speculation about the contents of that capsule.