Indian space tourism contest ready for launch

Back in July I noted here that a new Indian TV channel was planning a contest with a suborbital spaceflight as the top prize. Indiantelevision.com reports that the televised portion of this contest is ready to begin, with four episodes starting Sunday. According to the article:

The episodes are divided into four rounds – the […]

Going Dutch in space

A lucky Dutch radio listener will win a suborbital spaceflight, according to a report by Radio Netherlands. The Dutch station “Q-music” is giving away the suborbital flight, provided by Space Adventures; the winner will be announced Saturday during an event at an aviation and space museum in Lelystad. The article is a bit skeptical about […]

Pictures from the X Prize event

A few photos from the X Prize event in LA today:

From left: Bob Weiss of the X Prize Foundation, Larry Page of Google, Peter Diamandis of the X Prize Foundation, and Buzz Aldrin answer questions after the press conference.

While Diamandis talked, a small robotic rover (built by the Univ. of Oklahoma) rolled out […]

Russian space tourist candidates

The Russian space agency Roskosmos is reviewing applications from several Russians reportedly interested in flying to the ISS as space tourists, the Russian publication Kommersant reported. Space Adventures has reserved the available seat on Soyuz taxi flights to the ISS in the fall of 2008 and spring of 2009, so it’s not clear from this […]

Mojave explosion investigation continues

There are few new developments into the investigation of the fatal explosion last week in Mojave. The Bakersfield Californian reports that Cal/OSHA investigators continued their work at the airport, a process that is expected to last a few weeks. The three injured Scaled Composites employees remain hospitalized, two in critical condition and one in fair […]

The high cost of going into space

Yesterday Space Adventures announced that they have finalized the contracts for the next two tourists to visit the ISS. The company didn’t disclose the names of the tourists, saying only that more details would be released “in the coming weeks”. That’s not too surprising: the company had been dropping hints for some time that they […]

More on EADS’ suborbital vehicle plans

Some reaction (and clarification) on the EADS Astrium announcement this week about its plans to develop a suborbital vehicle for space tourism markets:

Burt Rutan, contacted by SPACE.com, doesn’t think much of the plan. He thinks it, and other rocket-powered aircraft that take off from a runway under rocket or jet power, will be more […]

EADS reinvents Rocketplane

Yesterday the European aerospace company EADS Astrium announced its proposal to develop a suborbital vehicle to serve the space tourism market. While this is a new design, the concept of operations is almost identical to what Rocketplane Global has been developing for several years: a vehicle the size of a business jet that takes […]

EADS getting into the space tourism market?

An article in the Sunday Times of London reports that EADS Astrium will announce this week plans to provide suborbital space tourism services. The article is short on details, although EADS is apparently looking at a suborbital vehicle that would reach 100 kilometers altitude, with a per-ticket cost similar to Virgin Galactic’s going rate of […]

New Benson Space vehicle design

Ad Astra/SPACE.com reports that Benson Space Company and SpaceDev plan to release a new design for their Dream Chaser suborbital spacecraft during the ISDC this weekend here in Dallas. The design drops the HL-20-based lifting body approach for the vehicle in favor of a more conventional rocketplane approach that bears similarities to the X-15, albeit […]

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