August 18 News Items

Sizing Up the Space Hotel (Source: MSNBC)
Can Spanish-led Galactic Suite really put a luxury space hotel in orbit by 2012? No way, says a Florida firm consulting on the venture. But if you look beyond 2015, the job just might be doable, representatives of 4Frontiers Corp. say. Galactic Suite made a splash last week with plans for their on-orbit hotel by 2012. Tourists would undergo training in a James Bondish space camp, then fly up for a three-day, $4 million stay on a private space station. A Reuters article said an American company intent on colonizing Mars had "come on board" for the project. That company is 4Frontiers, a space commerce company in New Port Richey, Florida.

4Frontiers is working its way into a variety of projects - ranging from consultation on space settlement issues, to curriculum development for elementary- and middle-school science classes, to space-themed entertainment and space-branded gifts and accessories. Mark Homnick, CEO and co-founder of 4Frontiers, said Galactic Suite hired his firm "as a consultant to provide strategic business planning insights," and he quickly brought the venture's high-flown claims back down to Earth. Galactic Suite would certainly not be in the orbital business in 2012, primarily because there wouldn't be a reliable way to get tourists up there in the numbers required, Homnick said.

"We do expect somewhat improved orbital access to be available for tourism in that time frame ... but the amount of folks who can go up there will be pretty limited," he said. "Why would we put an orbital resort there that no one can reach?" Homnick said he's guessing that the required launch capability won't be available until 2015 or later. And he said 4Frontiers has already begun making contacts with the companies that might be providing those capabilities in the years ahead.

So is Galactic Suite for real after all? That's hard to judge, even for 4Frontiers. Homnick emphasized that his company has not yet decided what its relationship with Galactic Suite will be over the long term. "We're going through a due-diligence process," Homnick said. "This is pretty early on." He declined to discuss what he knew about Galactic Suite's finances - for example, the claim in the Reuters report that the venture already has found a space enthusiast willing to front "most of the $3 billion needed to build the hotel." Visit http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/08/16/320672.aspx to view the article.

Hurricane Dean May Shift Endeavour’s Schedule (Source: AP)
Worried that Hurricane Dean might blow its way, Mission Control considered scaling back Saturday’s spacewalk at the orbiting shuttle and station complex to allow for a possibly early end to Endeavour’s mission. NASA wants to keep its options open for moving up Wednesday’s shuttle landing by one day, and shortening the spacewalk would be one way to do it.