The announcement that Richard Branson has sold a 32% stake in Virgin Galactic to Sheikh Mansour for $280m, reported on Bloomberg and widely in the press, puts a valuation on a space tourism company into the public domain for the first time and gives the nascent industry a higher profile in the financial world.

Years ago actors Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland popularized a now-famous show business cliché: “Let’s fix up the old barn and put on a show!”

The successful launching of a SpaceX Falcon 1 into orbit with a paying customer's payload (a RazakSAT satellite, specifically) shows that the fledgling New Space company is no fluke. It is here to stay.

US President Obama’s budget containing some hopeful directions for the space program…we think. Nestled within the thousand-page document is an increase in NASA’s budget: US$18.7 billion for 2010, which is US$2.4 billion more than the total for 2008; the House of Representatives also passed a bill on February 25, 2009, increasing the budget by US$360 million to the human space exploration budget for 2009.

Commercial space tourism got off to a good start for 2009 with the New Year’s Day announcement by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson that Virgin Galactic has signed a 20-year lease agreement with the state of New Mexico.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) won a NASA contract to send cargo to and from the International Space Station ( ISS). The ISS Cargo Resupply Services (CRS) contract requires SpaceX to carry at least 20,000 kg of cargo to the orbiting complex, for a value of $US1.6 billion. NASA might elect to order more cargo missions worth up to US$3.1 billion.

WhiteKnightTwo, the twin fuselage carrier for the sub-orbital vehicle SpaceShipTwo, took off for its maiden flight 21 December 2008 from the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, CA. WhiteKnightTwo, or “WK2,” flew for an hour.

The fourth SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket was launched today, achieving a significant milestone; it's the world's first privately funded TSTO liquid rocket to achieve orbit. Even though the first three launches of the Falcon 1 were not successful, NASA and the US Department of Defense kept faith in the fledgling space company. Today, after many trials and tribulations, that faith has been rewarded.

True to his word that he would issue press releases only when there was something to report, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has revealed that the fourth test of Falcon 1 will take place between 28 September and 1 October 2008 from the Kwajalein Pacific island launch site.

In its press release dated September 9, 2008 (see below), Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) disclosed that it had been granted an Operational License from the US Air Force for the use of Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the Florida coast.