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In-Depth Information
spacecraft to LEO. Potential customers for excess
seating capacity include private individuals, compa-
nies, nongovernmental organizations, and U.S. fed-
eral agencies other than NASA. Boeing plans to use
the CST-100 (or so-called ''space taxi'') to provide
crew transportation to the International Space
Station (ISS) and future commercial LEO platforms.
Boeing received US $18 million in NASA fund-
ing in 2010 to develop plans for a new capsule, the
CST-100, which could transport crews to the
International Space Station.
''
Space Adventures, Ltd.,
which positions itself as the
world's leading space
experience company, seeks
to be a unifying force for a
generation of space
explorers. Space
Adventures, the only
company to have launched
seven private space
explorers
—
to the
International Space
Station
—
launched a Soyuz
rocket from Baikonur
Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan.
Photocourtesy
ofSpaceAdventures.
By combining our talents, we can better offer
safe, affordable transportation to commercial
space
said Brewster Shaw,
vice-president and general manager of Boeing
flight customers,
''
'
s
Space Exploration division.
15
Preliminary plans would see four professional
astronauts on each trip, leaving three seats avail-
able for space tourists, private companies or U.S.
government agencies.
The SA-Boeing announcement is a boost to
President Barack Obama
s vision of a private space
industry after he scrapped NASA
'
s ambitious, but
costly plans to build a new generation of rockets to return humans to the moon by 2020. President
Obama laid out in June 2010 an overarching new U.S. policy on outer space, calling for more
international and private-sector cooperation on exploration, climate change, and orbiting debris.
Once the shuttle program ends in 2011, the United States will rely on Russia
'
s Soyuz spacecraft to
carry astronauts to the space station until a commercial U.S. launcher can be developed.
16
Boeing and Space Adventures have not yet set a price per seat, but said they would do so when full-
scale development of the spacecraft is underway. Prices are expected to be in line with those paid by
previous tourists who have spent up to $40 million for trips to the space station, so far aboard Russian
Soyuz spacecraft.
In summary, SA
'
is goal is to open the space frontier to everyone and promote private space
exploration by building a series of successful, privately funded space
ight missions. It has already sent
seven space tourists to the International Space Station.
In addition, Virgin Galactic (VG), established by Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson, has
undertaken the challenge of developing space tourism for everyone. VG represents the realization of a
lifetime dream of
'
a dream that was born watching the U.S. moon landing in July 1969.
In a manner similar to Space Adventure, Virgin Galactic
''
Sir Richard
''—
is goal is to end the exclusivity attached to
manned space travel, which means designing a vehicle that can
fly almost anyone to space and back
safely, without the need for special expertise or exhaustive, time-consuming training.
'
Terrorism and Crisis Management Becomes
Integral to Travel and Tourism
The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) and the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) have joined forces on an initiative to encourage and educate lodging employees to recognize,
report, and react to suspicious and crisis situations that occur on property.
17
In May 2010, DHS launched the
''
If You See Something, Say Something
''
campaign, which was
originally implemented by New York City
'
s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and funded,
in part, by $13 million from DHS
'
s Transit Security Grant Program. It has since been customized and
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