Space exploration volunteers wanted (The catch? It’s a one-way ticket)
The Guardian
The next generation of astronauts may hurtle through the cosmos for years or decades on a mission to explore distant planets and stars – and never return.
A senior Nasa official has told the Guardian that the world’s space agencies, or the commercial firms that may eventually succeed them, could issue one-way tickets to space, with the travellers accepting that they would not come back.
PANELISTS:
Bruce Pitman: President, Silicon Valley Space Club; Founding Member, Alliance for Commercial Enterprise in Space (Moderator)
Robert Kelso – Manager, Commercial Space Development, NASA JSC
Dennis Wingo – Founder, Skycorp, Inc.; CTO, Orbital Recovery Corporation
Tom Taylor – Vice President, Lunar Transportation Systems
Former NASA AA Alan Stern says that space tourism will be commonplace within 10 years.
Space Tourism Society Vice President Sam Coniglio has developed a prototype of the snuggle tunnel to make zero gravity hookups possible.
Report: No escape system could save astronauts if Ares I rocket exploded during first minute
Orlando Sentinel
The crew of NASA’s newest spacecraft “will not survive” an explosion of the Ares I rocket within the first minute of launch because blazing chunks of solid-rocket fuel would melt the parachutes on the crew-escape system, according to a new Air Force report.
It’s blast-off Britain as ban on space flight ends
The Sunday Times
BRITAIN is finally – and officially – to put men and women into space. A government policy against sending Britons into orbit is to be reversed after almost a quarter of a century.
X-51 Waverider
PANELISTS:
Charles Lauer – Vice President of Business Development, Rocketplane, Inc.
Paul Damphousse – Chief of Advanced Concepts, National Security Space Office
Kelvin Coleman – Special Assistant for Programs and Planning, FAA
A.C. Charania – President, SpaceWorks Commercial
Randall Clague – Government Liaison, XCOR Aerospace
In commemoration of the first moon landing, ATK Space Systems and NASA will mark the next steps in space as they unveil the first completed Ares I first stage five segment booster, planned to be tested next month.
Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo with Burt Rutan and Richard Branson
VIRGIN GALACTIC PRESS RELEASE
Founder Sir Richard Branson will take his first-ever flight aboard the Virgin Galactic mothership
When Virgin Galactic Mothership “Eve” (formerly known as WhiteKnightTwo) arrives and executes several low passes on July 27 to kick off the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2009 weeklong series of showcase flights and air shows, she’ll be performing the first of four scheduled flight demonstrations. The Monday arrival will be Virgin Mothership (VMS) Eve’s first appearance before a general-public audience.
The Isle of Man – a small nation in the Irish Sea – is seeking to become the “Switzerland of space” with a business friendly environment.
PANELISTS:
Gary Martin – Director of New Ventures and Communications, NASA Ames
Jeffrey Smith – Deputy Chief, Entrepreneurial Initiatives Division, NASA Ames
Michael Marlaire – Director of Partnerships, NASA Ames
Gary Martin
Director of New Ventures and Communications, NASA Ames
Came to Ames because it was unique – a lot of efforts at using commercial space – Pete Worden is very innovative, but even before he got here Ames had a reputation for innovation
He has seen the rest of the agency changing policies in order to accommodate work that has been done here….
~ 200 Public/Private Partnerships Annually:
