In 2009, Manhattan Beach, CA-based company Solaren, Inc. signed a contract with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to provide 200 megawatts (MW) of clean, reliable electrical power to customers at a rate comparable with existing power generation facilities.

When you think of manned space flight, what comes to mind? For some, it’s images of astronaut candidates being tested for the “right stuff:” getting poked and prodded in myriad medical exams, climbing in and out of mock space capsules, and undergoing training in jungles and deserts...as well as being strapped into large centrifuges and subjected to crushing g-forces.

Moffett Field, near San Jose, California, US -- On Saturday October 25, 2008 an airship flew into San Francisco Bay. Its graceful entrance over the Golden Gate Bridge marked the return of a classic form of travel not seen since before World War II. The Zepplin NT airship, built in Germany by Zepplin Luftschifftechnik GmbH, is a direct descendent of the giant airships which were a familiar sight in the 1920's and 30's.

In Mesquite, Texas, a small group of technicians and enthusiasts is quietly working to open space to the general public. Armadillo Aerospace is one of a growing number of start-up ventures attempting to accomplish what NASA and the big aerospace companies refuse to do: send paying passengers from all walks of life into space to find their destiny or to have a bit of fun.

From a conversation with Professor Yoshifumi Inatani

In an illustrated article “Learning to Fly, Strip, and Vomit on a 727”, Penn Jillette gives a wonderfully zany description of the thrill of floating in weightlessness here. (It also describes how, until aviation authorities finally certify companies to offer these services through commercial ticket sales, it’s possible to ‘get round’ regulations by becoming a ‘company employee’, as the author did along with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, among others.)

by G. B. Leatherwood

Knowing as we do that passenger space travel, and particularly space tourism, is going to become the largest, economically most important activity in space, we are pleased to recognise that 1998 has been an exceptionally good year, with a number of key successes.