By Carol Pinchefsky

By G.B. Leatherwood

According to this Register article, China plans to send astronauts to the moon in the year 2024. The article says the Chinese government is actively looking for Helium-3, a source of fuel abundant on the moon that may replace oil and gas.

The New York Times has written an article about space fashion (registration required). In brief, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Rocketplane Ltd. are sponsoring a zero-gravity fashion competition "for clothes that look good in zero gravity. The best designs will appear in a fashion show in Tokyo this fall."

According to Business 2.0 magazine via CNN, even though suborbital tourism and space hotels do not currently exist, "[a]ll, however, have the potential to generate astronomical returns during the next decade."

by Carol Pinchefsky

According to a CNN article, NASA is looking to privatize its flight service to the International Space Station.

The DVD "Gaia Selene: ...saving the Earth by colonising the Moon" by Screenwriter and Producer Charles Proser makes an unanswerable case that investing in developing space-faring capabilities such as large-scale solar energy and wireless power transmission, helium 3 collection and utilisation, and the use of other non-terrestrial resources including near-Earth asteroids and comets would pay a good return in the longer run.

by G.B. Leatherwood

7-Up Soda, along with the Ansari X-Prize Foundation, is offering U.S. contestants a chance to win a trip to space in a suborbital vehicle. There is currently no information on which vehicle is partnered with 7-Up.