by Carol Pinchefsky with G.B. Leatherwood

By Carol Pinchefsky and G.B. Leatherwood

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.

Here on planet Earth, we’re suffering from an energy crisis: we need gasoline to power our cars, and we need electricity to power our homes. Alternative sources of energy, such as solar and wind power, can only provide a fraction of what we need, and nuclear power has inherent risks. Of course, space enthusiasts see the answer to our problems beyond the planet. By capturing the limitless energy of the sun and transforming it into electrical energy we can use, the world will have the energy it needs without being drained of its finite resources.

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.

Thinking about the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, what can one say but

Attending any of the several space conferences is like standing atop an apex of time. Face this way, and you can look back at where we were, and what has happened since the last time we looked. Take a quarter turn, see and hear where we are now and the people making news. Take another quarter turn, and you are facing the future—what is yet to be done, who is going to do it, and how.

An independent review of NASA's human spaceflight plans is currently underway. This committee, which includes former astronauts, professors, CEOs, and a former Air Force General, will conduct a study on NASA's plans, as well as look for alternatives to make human spaceflight of making human spaceflight "safe, innovative, affordable, and sustainable."

Theme weddings usually come with a hefty price tag, and the wedding of Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan was no different. Their 20 June 2009 wedding cost $60,000 in rental space alone. But Fulmor and Finnegan married on the modified Boeing 727-200 aircraft flown by the Zero Gravity Corporation, exchanging vows while making history. “It’s amazing how resourceful you can be when you put your mind to it,” said Fulmor on the Today Show.