Once in a Lifetime

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According to Space.com on April 28, 2001, multimillionaire Dennis Tito became the first space tourist. He paid the Russians $20 million to ride a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). Tito says he had dreamed of going to space since April 12, 1961, when Russian cosmonaut YuriGagarin became the first human in space.

Tito spent six days on the ISS and landed in Kazakhstan on May 6, 2001. Space.com reported that Tom Shelley, president of Space Adventures, the Virginia-based company that brokered Tito's eight-day mission, said, "The private spaceflight industry did start with Dennis' flight.”

Tito’s love affair with space is alive and well. He’s helping to underwrite a group called Inspiration Mars that plans to send one couple, in their 50s, on a 501 day trip around the Red Planet.

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The dailymailonline reported they’ve set an aggressive timetable. They plan to launch on January 5, 2018 because that is the next time Mars will be closest, 75 million miles, to Earth. If they miss this window they will have to wait 15 years for the next one. “The planets realign every 15 years, and who wants to wait for 2033?” Tito said today at a press conference in Washington D.C.

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The capsule that will send an intrepid couple on this nearly one and one half year trek will be small, just 600-cubic feet. Once these folks are launched toward Mars they’ll be on their own. If anything went wrong, there would be no rescue.

I think the people who are chosen for this endeavor will have to be really well adjusted as a I think the people who are chosen for this endeavor will have to be really well adjusted as a couple. They’d have to be to spend 501 days in a capsule with only each other as company. 501 straight days in a cramped capsule might strain the bonds of the strongest relationship.

When I read about this my first thought was that in 2018 my wife and I will meet the age requirement set forth by Inspiration Mars. I love my wife; we’ve been together for more than 26 years. I enjoy spending as much time as possible with her. If any couple could spend 501 continuous days in such a tiny space, I’m certain we could.

I think it would be cool to hop in a spaceship and travel millions and millions of miles through space. My wife – not so much. We fly a couple times a year but it still makes her a bit nervous. I can’t imagine trying to get her onto a craft that leaves the earth’s atmosphere.

What do you think – does anyone else share my desire to take an extraterrestrial vacation?

SpaceX – A New Era in Space Travel

There are a number of nations (e.g., the United States, Russia, China, India and Japan) that have satellites in orbit. Only a few nations have demonstrated the ability to launch spacecraft (Russia, the United States, the European Union, China, Japan, and India).

One sovereign nation, North Korea, has made three failed attempts (2006, 2009 and most recently April, 13, 2012) to launch weather satellites. The suspicion is that these launch attempts are thinly veiled tests of a ballistic missile delivery system.



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Therefore, when SpaceX sent a cargo capsule, the Dragon, that docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, May 25, 2012, they accomplished something that no other private citizen had—build a spacecraft that docked with the ISS. I think it’s remarkable that they achieved this feat in just ten years.

There are other competitors in the commercial space realm. According to the Washington Post there are five other company’s which may be close to following SpaceX into orbit.


· Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Virginia
· Alliant Techsystems, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia
· Boeing Co. of Chicago, Illinois
· The Sierra Nevada Corp. of Sparks, Nevada
· Blue Origin of Kent, Washington

SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk, the creator of PayPal, in 2002. SpaceX’s COTS 2 Mission Press Kit states that Musk’s vision was to eventually make it possible for people to live on other planets.

What do you think? Is this the first step toward commercialization of space?

Photos: http://spacexlaunch.zenfolio.com/

Videos: http://vimeo.com/spacexlaunch

Japan's Spy Satellite

Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun.  I was on an extended deployment in the summer and early fall of 1981, a bit over seven months.  The squadron I was attached to, VMA 223, was fulfilling our portion of a three-squadron rotation.

We were assigned to Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Iwakuni, Japan.  The most lasting memory I have of Iwakuni is the smell of smoldering flesh.  There was a crematorium in the town and on Thursdays they burned the bodies.  That is an odor that will forever be imprinted on my olfactory system.  YUCK!

I was very young and did not understand the opportunity I had to explore a country with such a rich history.  I managed to spend a day in Hiroshima.  I don’t recollect much and I don’t think I took many pictures.  I mostly remember two things:

1.    It was the first time I had seen the brightly colored koi fish.

2.    There was a McDonalds in Hiroshima and this offered a little taste of home.

I did see some of the land though.  We lost an airplane (the pilot ejected safely) and I was one of the many assigned with searching for missing pieces.  Four of us trudged through a rice paddy and then there were three of us.  One of our party had fallen into a hole that had been covered up.  He didn't get hurt but it took us a few minutes to extricate him.

Why do I reminisce about this short tour of duty?  I was thinking about Japan on Monday, December 12, 2011, because the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched a spy satellite.  I didn’t know the Japanese had spy satellites.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised; I knew they had this capability since they are partners on the International Space Station.  I just never thought of Japan as having a need for spy satellites.  They started this effort in the late 90s after North Korea fired a missile over Japan.

This isn’t even their first spy satellite; it’s their seventh launch since 2003.  This satellite is radar tipped which, when operational, will allow the Japanese to monitor ground conditions at night or through cloud cover.  The need to monitor their own landmasses became especially crucial following the tsunami and earthquake in March, 2011.

I have a military background and I’ve worked in the aerospace industry for over 25 years, yet I never thought of Japan as requiring spy satellites.  When I ponder those who might be monitoring from above I don’t think of Japan but rather Russia, China and the U.S.  But, I guess I’m going to have to alter my world view and realize that the Big Three don’t have a monopoly on the sky.  Is Big Brother watching?