Satellite and missile defense manufacturer Orbital Sciences is about slicing off a piece of that space tourism pie: Orbital announced, via Twitter, its second entry into the commercial crew and cargo delivery business with a private space plane called Prometheus.

There’s only one way to get from Earth to the International Space Station ( ISS): First, you have to pay about $30 million for a seat on a Russian Soyuz. Then, you spend six months learning both Russian and other necessary skills to handle yourself in weightlessness and during possible emergencies. Only then can you join the elite seven civilians who have made the trip to date.

We all know by now that Britain has survived another election and another change of names and faces, most of them not at all familiar to us here in the colonies. Quite often, when the administration changes, so do many of the programs, policies, and priorities the previous administration tried so hard to implement. Sometimes that’s a good thing, like cancelling the over-budget, behind schedule, and outdated Constellation project begun during the Bush administration, but sometimes good programs are halted or just don’t have the support they need.

Look up, Indy 500 fans. The next great race may be in the clouds.

Years ago actors Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland popularized a now-famous show business cliché: “Let’s fix up the old barn and put on a show!”

US President Obama’s budget containing some hopeful directions for the space program…we think. Nestled within the thousand-page document is an increase in NASA’s budget: US$18.7 billion for 2010, which is US$2.4 billion more than the total for 2008; the House of Representatives also passed a bill on February 25, 2009, increasing the budget by US$360 million to the human space exploration budget for 2009.

WhiteKnightTwo, the twin fuselage carrier for the sub-orbital vehicle SpaceShipTwo, took off for its maiden flight 21 December 2008 from the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, CA. WhiteKnightTwo, or “WK2,” flew for an hour.

“I think you will agree that WhiteKnightTwo, or 'EVE' as we will be able to officially call her soon, is one of the most beautiful and extraordinary aviation vehicles ever developed.”

“Git’n ‘er done!” must be the operating phrase around the shops at Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan’s company that successfully built and flew the world’s first private aircraft to the edge of space. This craft, SpaceShipOne, reached the fringe and claimed the Ansari X-Prize while the other competitors watched from the stands or on their TV sets.