Broadcast 706 (Special Edition)

Dr. Roger Launius was the guest for this special program. We began our interview with a discussion of his views on space tourism given his recent article in the peer reviewed journal, AstroPolitics: "The International Journal of Space Power and Policy." Roger's article, "Is It Finally Time for Space Tourism?" is a timely discussion of issues concerning space tourism including market studies, NASA, sub-orbital tourism, and much more. Dr. Launius was asked questions about historical comparisons with adventure tourism and other forms of terrestrial tourism in relation to space tourism, regulations, accidents, and markets. We expanded our discussion to inquire about the Air and Space Museum, inquiring if more people express an interest in either the air or the space part of the museum. That information is not collected but Roger did tell us the highlights and points of interest in the space museum, including Space Ship One. Sondra asked a question about how items were selected by the museum to be displayed and if there was any controversy over having Space Ship One in the museum. Roger's response might surprise you. We also discussed the history of the planets and the moon, along with mythology as being drivers for space tourism and the privately developing space industry. We talked about the VSE, politics, the future of the VSE if administrations change in 2008 and much more. The issue of space as a luxury for our economy came up as did our overall space IQ in our society. Dr. Launius responded to many other timely and interesting listener questions, plus he brought to us many new perspectives and insights regarding space development, government space, private space, space for every day citizens, the importance of Space Ship One and much much more. He has a new book coming out in August, "Robots In Space" and he discussed this in the last segment. This book explores the relationship of humans and robots in space development and is co-authored with Professor Howard McCurdy. You can send your comments or questions to Dr. Roger Launius at launiusr@si.edu.