Broadcast 607 (Special Edition)

Dr. Sam Dinkin returned as the guest for this Space Show program. We began the interview with a brief update from Dr. Dinkin on his new blog, Decisive Win (www.decisivewin.com). Check it and comment on it. Dr. Dinkin continues to write for The Space Review but his posting on his own blog will now constitute his blogging rather than his previous contributions to Transterrestrial Musings. The conversation then moved on for updates about SpaceShot, Sam's new start-up skill game to allow people the opportunity to earn a trip to suborbital space. Sam explained how SpaceShot works and toward the end of the program, he did a primer on SpaceShot for listeners not familiar with this new business. Space-Shot affords Dr. Dinkin a unique perspective on the developing suborbital tourism industry and Sam did share his insights and perceptions with us about many of the companies, spaceports, and the space tourism industry,both suborbital and orbital. We also talked about the Chinese space program and their statements about their entering the space tourism industry. Dr. Dinkin commented on the Chinese program and then in response to my questions abut the Chinese economy, the trade deficit and the debt with the U.S. and China, we got an economic analysis of the situation from a real economist. Dr. Dinkin shared his thoughts with us about the influence of political change on NASA, the VSE, and the developing private sector space industry. For those of you going to the X-Prize Cup in Las Cruces, make sure you see the SpaceShot booth and play the game testing your skill and also you just might be the one to get a ride to the edge of space. If you have questions or comments for Dr. Dinkin, email him at dinkin@space-shot.com. He can also be reached by telephone at 1 888-4-Dinkin.