By G.B. Leatherwood

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.

For advocates of space tourism, the year 2004 can be conveniently summed up in one word: "SpaceShipOne". That project could hardly have gone better: after just three powered test-flights, starting on the centenary of the Wright brothers' first flight, SpaceShipOne reached space three times in 2004, thereby winning the Ansari X-Prize of $10 million.

by G.B. Leatherwood