Video: Steve Landeene talks about Spaceport America

In the last of the series of video interviews I recorded during the Space Access ’09 conference in Phoenix earlier this month, Steve Landeene, executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, gives a brief update on the progress of Spaceport America and plans for its construction:

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That’s why they’re called test flights (updated)

[See update below]

SPACE.com and Flight International both reported that WhiteKnightTwo, the carrier aircraft for SpaceShipTwo, made its fourth and longest test flight on Mon day, a four-hour flight that reached an altitude of 6,100 meters and speed of nearly 260 km/h. However, both reported on an incident during a touch-and-go approach at Mojave Air […]

Most space tourists avoid ITAR

I posted on this yesterday at Space Politics, but if you missed it there a summary of this latest, positive development regarding ITAR (US export control regulations) as they apply to space tourism is below:

The Economist reported Wednesday that regulators have agreed that prospective spaceflight participants will not need any export control agreements to […]

One more Odyssey update

It’s been an eventful week for Project Odyssey, the space tourism training effort stood up late last year in Florida, and its director, Brice Harris. Last Friday the Florida inspector general’s office concluded Harris “likely violated” state law by taking the job after playing a major role in getting the project state money while working […]

Another milestone for Cecil Field’s spaceport

Plans for a spaceport at Cecil Field, a former naval air station outside Jacksonville, Florida, moved a step closer to reality this week with the release of a draft environmental assessment (EA) for the facility. According to the Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA), which is applying for a spaceport license from the FAA, the draft EA […]

Video: Chuck Lauer interview at Space Access

Below is an interview I did with Chuck Lauer of Rocketplane Global during the Space Access ’09 conference in Phoenix earlier this month. Chuck talks about the current status of Rocketplane Global and the markets they’re pursuing for their suborbital vehicle. He also recaps what he said at the conference about Rocketplane Kistler and their […]

Project Odyssey update

The Pensacola News-Journal reports that Brice Harris has resigned as director of the “Project Odyssey” space tourism training program at the Andrews Institute in that Florida city. Harris had been under scrutiny since early this year after reports that he played a major role in obtaining a state grant for the effort while working in […]

Space tourism weathers the economy

Yesterday a Canadian travel agency who is accredited to sell flights on Virgin Galactic held a press conference to provide an update on Virgin’s activities, with the message that, despite the economy, people are still interested in, and willing to pay for, suborbital spaceflights, as the Toronto Star reports today. That’s not too surprising if […]

Video interview: John Carmack

Below is a brief video interview I conducted with John Carmack of Armadillo Aerospace at the end of the Space Access ’09 conference. (This was recorded outdoors at the end of the day, hence the low lighting; you should also turn up your audio.) He talks about their current plans for both the Lunar Lander […]

Florida’s inspector general finds problems with Project Odyssey

Back in January the Orlando Sentinel reported that the Florida governor’s office was directing an investigation of Project Odyssey, a space tourism training program in Pensacola funded with state money that was announced in December, after it appeared that the project’s director was heavily involved in its formation and funding while a state employee. Now […]