First Chilean astronaut? We’ll see

Software developer Symantec announced Wednesday the winner of its contest to send someone into space: Jorge Patricio León López, who was selected from 30 finalists after participating in a weightless aircraft flight by Zero-G. As the press release claims, “In addition to being one of the first to participate in a commercial space travel flight, León could be the first Chilean in space as no Chilean has participated in a space flight at this time.”

But, as you might expect, there’s a catch. The suborbital flight that León won is provided by Space Adventures, which (as noted here a few months ago), isn’t emphasizing the suborbital side of its business, so it’s not at all clear when León might fly, and how. That would, though, follow a trend of Chilean efforts get one of its citizens in space: for several years Klaus Von Storch waited for everything to come together for a slot on a Soyuz mission to the ISS; that article was written in 2006 and, three years later, he still is grounded. Hopefully, when either Von Storch or León flies, they don’t end up like this fellow.