Most of us, this writer included, have probably never heard of Kerala and have no idea where it is, much less why it would be a subject of interest in space tourism.

On March 25, 2010, at a private showing at New York City’s Core Club, Richard Garriott screened his documentary, Man on a Mission, about his experiences as a spaceflight participant.

Spaceflight participant Richard Garriot returned to the Kazakhstan steppes on October 24, after spending 12 days in space. Garriott, son of former astronaut Owen Garriott and therefore the first second-generation US astronaut, kept himself occupied during that whole flight. In fact, you may wonder how he had time to sleep.

by Carol Pinchefsky

by Carol Pinchefsky

According to this CNN article, "The Federal Aviation Administration is reviewing proposals from New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas to be gateways for private space travel."

New York – August 10, 2005 – Space Adventures, Ltd., the world’s leading space experiences company, announced today the availability of a commercial spaceflight to the far side of the moon. The company, which organized spaceflights for the world’s first private space explorers, American businessman Dennis Tito and the ‘First African in Space’ Mark Shuttleworth, disclosed the details of the mission, called DSE-Alpha, during a press conference.

After taking eight years to get licenced to provide parabolic flight services to the general public, Zero Gravity Corporation finally started its long-awaited service on September 14.

Scaled Composites has announced that SpaceShipOne will make its first flight to space on June 21, 2004 – a date that will live in the history of space flight along with those of other epoch-making flights, such as the first ever flight to space, by Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961, and the first private flight to space, by Dennis Tito on April 28, 2001.

In a characteristically stimulating presentation at the session on Space Tourism of the Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF-2004) on Monday February 9, Chuck Lauer, Vice President for Business Development at Pioneer Rocketplane Inc, confirmed that the company had finalised an agreement with Spaceport Oklahoma (officially OSIDA, the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority) to develop the passenger-carrying XP Rocketplane, which will be capable of sub-orbital flights, at Burns Flat in Oklahoma. The XP is an adapted Learjet, with a rocket engine being developed by Orbitec Inc. It is not primarily targeting the “X Prize” but the sub-orbital passenger market, including tourism. “But if no-one else has won the X-Prize by 2006, then we will” Lauer said.