This week is turning out to be very newsworthy for the space tourism industry. First, the world's second paying space passenger is set to fly on Thursday, April 25. Mark Shuttleworth, a South African dotcom multi-millionaire, is ready for launch on a Vostok rocket from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakstan. Colonel Yuri Pavlovich Gidzenko is the commander of the Taxi-3 mission, also was a member of the first crew on the International Space Station Expedition-1 mission. Lieutenant Colonel Roberto Vittori, from Rome, Italy, completes the team. He has over 2000 hours experience in over 40 different aircraft. Mark Shuttleworth has excellent companions for his trip to the ISS. Keep posted at the First African in Space website:
http://www.africaninspace.com/

Capitalizing on this remarkable event, the X Prize Foundation has invited the Canadian Arrow team to bring their six-story high space tourist rocket to midtown Manhattan on April 25. Check out the press release at:
http://www.xprize.org/press/release_014.html

Finally, the Space Tourism Society will have its Space Tourism Pioneer Awards Banquet on April 27 in Los Angeles, California. Featured speaker is Mr. Dennis Tito, the world's first private space traveler. He will premiere his new video at the event and talk about fulfilling his lifelong dream of space travel. Learn more at:
http://www.spacetourismsociety.org/banquet.html