Rotary Rocket Company of Redwood Shores, California revealed its revised design for the Roton, a rocket-helicopter hybrid vehicle. Using a combination of oxygen and JP4 fuel, the Roton will take off using aerospike engines. It will deliver its payload to low earth orbit. Then it will return to Earth engine-first. At a certain altitude, propellers will extend from the nose of the Roton, and the vehicle will return to the launch site in a manner similar to helicopters. Landing gear will extend, and the vehicle will softly land.

Gary Hudson, President of Rotary Rockets, notes that the first Roton will be about the same size as McDonnell Douglas' Delta Clipper Experimental (DC-X) vehicle. The Gross Lift Off Weight ( GLOW) is about 225,000 pounds. It will carry 2-3 tons of payload, primarily communication satellites. They plan to scale future versions up to the 20 ton class. The first vehicle will be designed for 20-30 flights, while later versions will be able to fly hundreds of times. The company's goal is to build and operate these vehicles until such time as others buy and operate them.

The second public announcement came from Pioneer RocketPlane Company of Lakewood, Colorado. Charles Laurer, Vice President of Business Development, showed reporters and the public the new design for the Pathfinder rocket plane. In order to protect the two F-100 turbofan jet engines from the heat of reentry, they have been repositioned to the top and aft of the plane, where there is less heat. Pioneer just won a $2 million contract with NASA's Bantam Rocket Program, which is for promoting the development of small reusable launch technologies. Pioneer will be competing for another $30 million in contracts, to eventually reach their goal of $100 million in funding. They plan to fly in 1999.

Manned by a crew of two, the Pathfinder vehicle is designed to take off like a regular jet plane, using the 6000 foot runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base. At an altitude of 25,000 feet, the Pathfinder will rendezvous with a tanker plane and be fueled with liquid oxygen. After separating from the tanker, the Pathfinder will ignite its RD-120 rocket engine and zoom to a sub-orbital altitude of 80 miles. At this point, the Pathfinder's cargo bay will open up. A satellite boosted by a Thiokol Star engine will place it into proper orbit. The Pathfinder itself will close its cargo doors, and return to its launch site under power.

As well as the new vehicle design, Mr. Lauer announced that banker and former member of the US Air Force, Richard Freytag, has joined the Pioneer Team. Also announced was an agreement with Thiokol for building the Star booster motors.

Space Development Corp. is a private space exploration company that will announce in July a venture to build the first private spacecraft to go beyond Earth's orbit.

• "High Society" Newsletter -- There will be three seperate documents: a high quality introduction brochure; bi-monthly UPDATE; a "High Society" magazine modeled after the National Geographic magazine
• Space Tourism Workshop -- Mr. Charles Carr is the chair of a one day workshop for planning the 1998 Space Tourism Symposium. It will be held on December 13, 1997 on board the Queen Mary cruise ship, which is in permanent dock in Long Beach, California. Anyone who wants to participate, please contact Mr. John Spencer.
• NASA/STA Space Tourism Workshop -- the report on the workshop will finally be published in mid-summer. STS will secure copies and distribute them to the membership.
• "X Prize" Gala -- STS will participate in the September 27, 1997 event in St. Louis, Missouri. This event will be used to make the first national press announcement about STS. (September 26, 1997 will be the first anniversary of STS)
• Annual Lifetime Membership Award -- Dr. David Webb was awarded an annual lifetime membership because of his outstanding efforts in promoting commercial space development. Some of you may remember his involvement with the National Commission on Space, and the book they published called "Pioneering the Space Frontier."
• Corporate Sponsorship -- Three companies have requested corporate sponsorship materials. These materials are still under development.
• Conferences -- STS has been invited to the "Humans to the Moon 2000" symposium on July 4 in Pasadena. They have also been invited to the Space Frontier Foundation Conference on November 7-9 in Los Angeles.
• Media Coverage -- Several members have participated in several TV and radio programs, including "Strange Universe."
• "Space Lottery" -- STS is working with "Buzz" Aldrin on his lottery concept since it means opening space to the average person.
• MIR Space Station Commercialization -- STS also supports Mr. Derek Webber's efforts in privatizing MIR space station.
• "Space Tourism Dinner Theater" -- Mr. Mark Reiff presented his ideas for a comical "Murder Mystery" dinner theater performance loosely based on an Arthur C. Clarke story.