The next space tourist is to be the founder of Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberté. He has a mini-site and blog, Guy Laliberté’s Poetic Social Mission in space (I have to admit the title makes me roll my eyes cynically, but idealism has that effect on me – yes I am disillusioned). He will launch on TMA-16, currently set to launch on 30 September. His backup (not yet confirmed) is Barbara Barrett, who has a training blog; unfortunately its viewing is currently restricted.
A Russian artist called Sergey Krainev, Сергей Крайнев, does nice space-themed paintings (found this while browsing the NK forum through an online translator).
Astronaut Leroy Chiao was soliciting opinions on his blog for the Augustine Human Space Flight Review Commission. I have no interest in this, therefore no opinion. But I found one comment that was somewhere between unintentionally amusing and exasperating as it was of the “Paranoid Patriot” variety (I might note that Leroy Chiao is of Chinese descent), so it’s worth reproducing (with minor editing as some paragraphs were repeated):
The United States, as a nation and leader of the Free World, needs to be the guardian of the Lunar Future. The last thing I want to see on a full moon is a future Chinese Territory and have to have that countries approved visa for future visits, explorations and permission for development.
By our leadership we will make sure the Lunar Future will be a free and democratic society. Sure, we will invite other nations to participate, but through U.S. leadership we will ensure it is a just system for future resource development. It may look like a large rock in the sky at the moment, but as soon as commercial development finds a way to make money there, it becomes real estate. The question will be who gets to control the distribution of the best sites, who decides future taxation of resources, etc.
We have a unique situation that we have not seen for couple hundred years, and history is about to repeat itself. We need to claim this stepping stone now, and the Liberation points, then Mars. We can do it with international participation, but it must be with bold U.S. leadership for a democratic future. The investments we make now do not just effect the next couple of decades, but the next several hundred years.
For a fraction of what we are now spending on bailouts, we could have a very aggressive infrastructure on the Moon, then on to Mars. NASA must lead the way, then get out of the way, and let private companies find a way to make money and spur further development. Once lunar surface operations can be economically self-sustaining, then NASA can concentrate on Mars and beyond.
As Ronald Reagan said in his speech to console a grieving nation during the space shuttle Challenger tragedy; “The Future Belongs to the Brave, not the Faint Hearted, Now’s the time to be brave, there will only be one opportunity for Lunar Leadership, we need to make it ours.”
There is a reason why God put us in the position of being the first nation there [WTF???]. By our leadership we will make sure the Lunar Future will be a free and democratic society.
I still have a copy of the earlier Augustine Commission’s report after Challenger. I for one do not want a Red Moon Rising.
That’s why I find the space community such a turnoff generally – too many anti-enviromentalist Libertarians/Conservatives who have overdosed on Heinlein (whom I have never read, incidentally) and who think (or hope!) that colonizing space will be a re-enactment of the founding of the USA. (I have a related rant, “Space cadet growthists”, on my overpopulation blog.)
