suborbital tourism

Guest: Dr. Nader Elhefnawy had his debut appearance on The Space Show today in order to discuss his recent Space Review articles. Please check out http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1220/1 and http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1199/1. Our discussion was wide-ranging with excellent listener questions challenging our guest and his theories/perceptions or, in some cases, agreeing with our guest.

Guest: Shubber Ali was our guest today in order to discuss our economic situation and its fallout for civil and private space, space solar power (SSP), space investment, venture capital, and much more. Several callers asked Shubber questions ranging from how NewSpace Companies should strategize for survival or moving forward given our economic crisis and one caller even asked for models of how aviation companies did it in the 1930s.

Guest: Dr. Melcho Antunano, Director of Civil Aerospace Medical Institute at the FAA, was the guest for this Space Show program. Our primary topic for discussion was the role of the FAA in setting policy, guidelines, or requirements for medical qualifications for flight crews and spaceflight participants for both suborbital and orbital space tourism. Dr. Antunano pointed out several times that the FAA does not set the policy or requirements. Instead, they produce guidelines only and it is then up to the spaceflight companies to issue their own standards and guidelines.

Guests: Randa and Rod Milliron of Interorbital Systems, Inc. returned to The Space Show today in order to update us on new developments with their company. Having just returned from the SmallSat Conference and seeing the Millirons there, we decided to start our discussion with their presentation subject from SmallSat regarding Cubesats. Then, we focused on ocean launch which Interorbital is using. Their Sea Star rocket is being designed for CubeSat launches with engine testing and test flights at the end of this year and commercial operations due later in 2009.

Guest: Dr. Patrick Collins was our very special guest for this 1,000th Space Show program! Dr. Collins joined us from Japan as he was also the very first Space Show guest on June 13, 2001. We started our discussion with a type of report card for space tourism in 2001 and now in 2008. We both went through a list of milestones, accomplishments, events, and developments in order to ascertain the level of progress made in developing space tourism over the past seven years. Dr.

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.

Charles Miller, CEO of Constellation Services Incorporated (CSI) returned to The Space Show with this program. Mr. Miller began the discussion with an explanation of the COTS program, what it is and what it is not. From there we discussed the two winners and what NASA is obligated to do with the product developed by both or either of the companies. For example, since COTS is not a services acquisition program but instead a demonstration program, there is nothing to sell to NASA as defined by this type of program.

Jane Reifert, President of Incredible Adventures, Inc, was the guest for this Space Show program which first aired on Monday, July 17, then again on Sunday, July 23. We began the interview with Jane giving us a brief history of Incredible Adventures and some of its offerings in air and space. From here, we went into further detail about the MIG flights to the edge of space and the space training and support adventures offered by this company. Ms. Reifert spoke at some length regarding space tourism and especially suborbital tourism from a business and marketing point of view.

John Spencer returned to The Space Show to update us on matters concerning space tourism. We began the interview with John summarizing space tourism developments since he was last on the show in August 2005. We spoke about suborbital tourism, the companies involved in the suborbital vehicle programs, and his yacht plans which John is well known for and which he as written about in his book, "Space Tourism - Do You Want To Go?" The book, published in 2004 by Apogee, is still available and is a must read for those of you interested in space tourism.