Kevin Bollinger is on a mission. He wants to fly into space. And he is doing it step by step with the San Jose based Experimental Rocket Propulsion Society, known affectionately as ERPS. If ERPS succeeds, you and I could one day buy a ticket on a low cost and safe reusable spaceship.

Good news! It seems that the Australians are not only matching the

At ESA's Workshop on Space Exploration and Resources Exploitation (ExploSpace) held in Sardinia in October 20-22, there were sessions on a variety of longer-term possibilities in space, including Space Solar Power, Space Mining, Exploration, and Business & Financing. In the face of growing recognition of the potential of space tourism a session was also held on "Access to Space, Space Tourism and Public Outreach" in which three papers addressed the subject of space tourism seriously.

On C-SPAN 1, Saturday, 11/07/98 at 08:40pm to 10:15pm ET or 05:40pm to

ST. LOUIS, 29 October 1998 - PRESS RELEASE

The Launch Cost Reduction Bill, a new Senate bill that would allow NASA to provide loan guarantees of up to $400 million to help chosen companies raise funding for new launch vehicle development, has become the focus of a fierce controversy.

In a recent press release, Gateway computers, a major PC maker, announced that they will be the exclusive supliers of computer workstations to Vela Technologies Development, Inc., who is developing the Space Cruiser(R) System (SCS) space tourist vehicle. This is the company working with Zegrahm Space Voyages to offer tourist flights into space.

Aerospace America published an interview with Richard Christiansen, NASA's acting associate administrator of aeronautics and space transportation technology in which he discussed NASA's plans for space access, among other topics.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which was given responsibility for regulating commercial space activities in 1995 (though the funding authority remains different from that of the rest of the FAA) has started a study on how best to merge the monitoring and handling of aircraft traffic with rockets and space vehicles that travel to and from outer space.

On May 8 an 8ft (2.4m) long model of Bristol Spaceplanes' "Ascender" spaceplane performed its first test flights, flying at upwards of 80 kph (50 mph). The model is being used to study the low-speed handling of the full-scale "Ascender" which is the size of a business jet, and will carry 4 people to space and back.