Space Tourism

Why hasn’t space tourism taken off? The Guardian explains.

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Spaceport America!

The State of New Mexico gave a needy Brit named Sir Richard Branson $250 million to set up Spaceport America, a facility where rich people can launch into space pleasure jaunts. You know, your typical Public-Private Partnership.

Spaceport America: Buyer’s Remorse

Spaceport America is an 18,000 acre commercial spaceport in New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto desert basin near the White Sands Missile Range. Then-Governor Bill Richardson and Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic made the deal happen in 2006, and the facility opened in 2011. It cost New Mexico taxpayers $220 million and hasn’t earned very much, so some state legislators want to sell the thing. Anybody got a phone number for Flash Gordon?

More:

“The Troubled Future of the World’s First Commercial Spaceport,” Darren Orf, Gizmodo

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Image (“Spaceport America”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Newt’s Next Job

Let’s face it, disgraced ex-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich isn’t going to be the Republican presidential candidate, let alone the next U.S. President. Frankly, after the kind of things he’s been saying, no one on Earth would give him a job.

Of course, Mr. Gingrich would rather slip the bonds of Earth for a job in outer space, as despot ruler of his Moon Base. But lunar colonies are too expensive and illegal and, in any case, the man doesn’t have any kind of executive experience.  There may be a related opportunity, however, and Newt Gingrich has the perfect résumé and wardrobe. He would make a great maître d’ at the Orbital Playboy Club on the Virgin Galactic Space Station.

Related:

“Is moon base really the ‘weirdest’ Newt Gingrich idea? Maybe not.” Peter Grier, Christian Science Monitor

“Newt Gingrich’s Fantasy Campaign—and the Fictions That Gave Rise to It,” Jeet Heer, The Atlantic

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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