The Final Report of the joint study carried out since 1995 by NASA and the Space Transportation Association (STA) in Washington DC is due to be published in January, according to Thomas F Rogers, the President of STA.

At a session on space tourism held at the annual congress of the International Astronautical Federation ( IAF) Tom Rogers previewed the report, saying that "...the general tone of the report will be positive" and the "...Findings and Recommendations should encourage the development of a potentially large private sector space travel and tourism business".

Tom Rogers has long been an advocate of wider access to space by the general public, and has argued particularly that 1) the cost of space transportation and activities must be cut by 99%, and 2) the general public should have access to space. Only these steps will rescue government space activities from the progressive loss of public support from which they are suffering.

In 1995 he persuaded NASA to join STA in a joint study of the question "What should the USA do to prompt the creation of a potentially large space tourism business?" The Final Report will consist of 3 volumes, and a Press Conference is to be held.

It is particularly notable that this is the first time that NASA has published anything concerning space tourism, and it should have a strong and beneficial effect on the perception of space tourism by business, the media, the general public and politicians. As such it should make a great start to 1998! - SFJ