Sadly, the NASA Authorization Act of 2010, which determines NASA’s policy, was passed by the senate today, heavily altered from Obama’s proposal in February in one key crucial area. Section 403 highlights the problem with the act--there will be no commercial crew development of space in 2011; commercial development of space is limited to cargo, but only in 2012:

According to an article in Wired.com, Daisuke Enomoto has filed a lawsuit against Space Adventures.

Two cosmonauts, in a show of solidarity for fellow crew member Dennis Tito, left a NASA facility because NASA refuses to train the California entrepeneur--claiming his lack of experience as a danger to the International Space Station. In other words, NASA will not train a man who is not trained.

Rather than continue to compete against the government, Beal Aerospace has decided to cease operations. What provoked this decision? Well, X-33 was bad enough for the private launch vehicle industry, since no investor wants to put money into a company when the government (in the form of NASA) is seen to be funding a competitor, particularly one the size of Boeing or Lockheed. The 'Space Launch Initiative', which supercedes X-33 without it even flying once, ups the government ante from $1.5bn to a staggering proposed $4bn. It's not hard to see how an investor is likely to react to that.

Beal Aerospace's recent problems are covered in an Associated Press article, available at href=http://www.express-news.net/auth/ennews/ap/texas/d0613.html.