Big Day For SA

Space Adventures has made not one but two major announcements today. One is the formation of the Orbital Mission Explorers Club, which will allow members to reserve a place on a future spaceflight for a $5 million down payment. That's good for a busy person who nonetheless wants to fly into space someday, and, of course, its good for SA's financial position. Sergei Brin, co-founder of Google, has become the founding member of the club. An interesting twist is that people who reserve a position are then free to sell that reservation. Perhaps the beginnings of a market?

The second major announcement involves ISS. In 2011, SA will fly two private travelers on the same Soyuz-- a special Soyuz is being built for the flifght-- to ISS in the first private spaceflight to the space station. SA, therefore, continues to broaden its offerings and strengthen its balance sheet, which should allow it to pursue even more ambitious projects.

With Space Adventures, already the leader in space tourism, making such a double splash, perhaps marking a turning point in private industry's involvement in space commerce and development, watching the evening news broadcasts to see what kind of coverage-- if any at all-- they give to SA's announcements should be interesting.