Astronauts4Hire Press Release

Astronauts4Hire is pleased to announce that it has become a sponsor of the 2011 Next-generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) to be held in Orlando, Florida from February 28 through March 2, 2011.

Brian Shiro, President and CEO of Astronauts4Hire, joined the conference’s scientific organizing committee, chaired by Dr. Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “Astronauts4Hire grew out of the 2010 NSRC,” says Shiro, “so it is fitting that we give back to the suborbital research community by sponsoring the 2011 NSRC. This will be a prime opportunity for A4H to demonstrate how far it’s come in its first year and where it’s going in the future.”

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Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center

Government and business leaders met in Cocoa on Monday at the Florida Space and Technology Forum to discuss plans for the post-space shuttle era. Sunshine State News reports that there was a consensus that major changes are required to adapt to a new age of commercial space flight:

“If we’re going to have Florida be at the forefront of the space business, we’re going to have to change the way we do business,” said Dr. George Nield, associate administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.

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Hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels. Credit: European Parliament

ESA PRESS RELEASE

Europe’s future in space and the opportunities it will offer to us all will be discussed at a conference in Brussels on 26–27 October under the aegis of the European Parliament. Members of the public are invited to attend.

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SWF PRESS RELEASE

With the success of a domestically-built and -launched satellite in February 2009, the Islamic Republic of Iran became the first Islamic nation and the ninth nation overall to launch its own payload into orbit.

Since that launch, Iran has expanded its activities in space, reporting that it has committed significant funds to its space program, announcing new satellite and rocket plans, as well as promising to put a man in orbit by 2025.

Secure World Foundation (SWF) has issued an Iranian Space Launch Capabilities Fact Sheet with Tiffany Chow as its main author from SWF’s Washington, D.C. office.

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President Barack Obama signed the NASA authorization bill on Monday, a federal national holiday that honors the achievements of Christopher Columbus. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden released the follow statement:

“Earlier today, President Obama signed into law the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010. It is important bipartisan legislation that charts a new course for space exploration, science, technology development, and aeronautics. We are grateful for the President’s forward-thinking plan and the hard work members of Congress put into this framework that will guide us for the coming three years.

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Avatar Director/Producer James Cameron floats weightless in Zero G along with X PRIZE Trustees in a flight to raise funds for the X PRIZE Foundation. Left to right: Rob McEwen (Chairman, US Gold), James Cameron, Peter H. Diamandis (Chairman/CEO, X PRIZE), Elon Musk (Chairman/CEO, SpaceX), Jim Gianopulos (Chairman/CEO, Fox Filmed Entertainment). Photo credit: Steve Boxall

James Cameron and Friends Soar Weightless in the Avatar Zero-G Experience to Support The X PRIZE Foundation
X PRIZE Foundation Press Release

This special flight assembled a group of 30 individuals who are passionate about the science and technology represented in AVATAR and mission and innovation of the X PRIZE Foundation. Three spots were reserved for the winners of an eBay auction, in which the general public went head-to-head in a bidding war to snag a coveted seat aboard the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. An additional 20 seats were sold for $15,000 each. The weightless experience took place aboard G-FORCE ONE, a specially modified, FAA-approved, Boeing 727-200 aircraft which departed from Van Nuys Airport. The flight, identical to those used by NASA to train its astronauts, provided guests the chance to fly like Superman and flip like an Olympic gymnast, as ZERO-G creates Martian (1/3-gravity), Lunar (1/6-gravity) and zero gravity conditions over the course of 15 parabolic arcs.

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The Daily Mail reports Virgin Galactic Founder RichardBranson shed a bit of light on the most mysterious aspects of his space tourism project — the status of SpaceShipTwo’s engine:

Sir Richard added: ‘The next big step will be the rocket tests actually on the spacecraft itself. We’ve obviously have done thousands of rocket tests on the ground, the next big test is in the air. We’ll be doing gentle rocket tests in the air, ultimately culminating into taking the spaceship into space.”

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The fou-part series will begin airing on Monday, Oct. 18 on the National Geographic Channel.

Monday, Oct. 11, 2010: 2-3:30 PM PDT: We welcome back Dr. Alan Stern, PI of the New Horizons Project. We will also be talking about research opportunities with the developing suborbital market. Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010, 7-8:30 PM PDT: We welcome back Dr. Wendell Mendell from NASA JSC. We will be discussing lunar and planetary exploration and more. Wednesday, Oct. 13, 7-9 PM PDT: OPEN LINES. All topics are welcome […]

Alan Stern passed along the following note: Registration for the 2011 Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC-2011) is now open. The conference will take place on the University of Central Florida campus Feb 28 to Mar 2, 2011. Hosted by Space Florida, the University of Central Florida, and the Southwest Research Institute, NSRC is the meeting for researchers and educators wanting to participate in, learn about, and contribute to the new […]

U.S. suborbital spaceship signs up Russian space tourist
RIA Novosti

The U.S. Armadillo Aerospace company, which is developing the suborbital spaceship for space tourist flights, announced on Monday that a Russian has become its first confirmed passenger.

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This week in The Space Review…. In Reviving the SSI Space Manufacturing Conference, Lee Valentine and I take a look at the history of the Space Studies Institute’s Space Manufacturing Conference and preview the 14th conference in Silicon Valley at the end of the month. The Space Review also features: A fading opportunity for export control reform? The US space industry has raised its hopes in the last year about […]