Sherman's Travel

A mission to Mars is in the works. First thought: NASA is on it. But think again, this project was dreamed up in the private sector and is heavily funded by financial tycoon, Dennis Tito, the first space tourist. The nonprofit, “no frills” mission, called Inspiration Mars, will launch a man and a woman on a flight into space for 16 months. Read more

Space tourism is one step – and $8 million – closer to reality, with the completion this week of a massive production plant in California’s Mojave Desert that houses the first passenger aircraft that will fly into space.

According to Virgin Galactic, which is owned by British billionaire Richard Branson and has joint ventured on the project, more than 430 customers have already signed up, at an out-of-this-world cost of $200,000 per ticket. Read more

As the crowd waiting at Cape Canaveral to see today’s lift-off of the Atlantis shuttle – the farewell song for the U.S. space shuttle program – held their collective breath and prayed for good weather, museums across the country have finished a waiting game of their own.

Established air and space museums nationwide vied for the chance to display one of the three remaining shuttles entering retirement. The selected museums will front the costs for the shuttles’ “autopsies” (removal of the engines and toxic fuels and solutions that were necessary for flight), build new facilities to house them, and then hopefully cash in on the dedicated base of space tourists across the country.

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