Rocketeers.co.uk - a British view of commercial spaceflight

I'll be at the RAeS Conference on space tourism today. If I can get a decent 3G signal during the conference, I may be able to liveblog, we'll see...

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UPDATE: Many thanks to the Royal Aeronautical Society for staging an excellent and thoroughly enjoyable conference. Thanks also to those of you who came up to me at the conference and let me know that you read Rocketeers, it's much appreciated, and makes the effort feel worthwhile ;-)

A tip of the hat to Jeff Foust and Andy Janes -- it was great talking with you.

To those who asked whether I had anything to do with the BNSC's change of policy on microgravity science -- the answer is no, not as far as I know :-) No-one from BNSC has spoken to me about it.

If I'm wandering around with a cheesy grin, it's because I heard one or two very interesting things regarding UK NewSpace development during the day. Expect some press releases in the near future. Watch this space!

I didn't get the chance to blog during the day, but I took very rough notes on my netbook during most of the panel sessions, and I'll upload them once I've fixed the spelling and formatting. I don't really have time to write them up as a formal article, but hopefully they'll still be of interest.

In the meantime, here are some links to media coverage of the conference:

• UK yet to embrace space tourism -- BBC News
• Xcor's chief operating officer talks orbital trips to Hyperbola -- Hyperbola
• Private space explorer Richard Garriott talks to Hyperbola -- Hyperbola
• Sweden considers SpaceX Falcon 1 for its spaceport -- Hyperbola
• AUDIO: RAeS space tourism 2009 Xcor and Space Adventures Q&A -- Hyperbola
• AUDIO: RAeS space tourism 2009 Spaceports speak up -- Hyperbola
• AUDIO: RAeS space tourism 2009 Astrium and Galactic Q&A -- Hyperbola

Finally, thanks to a benefactor and Rocketeers reader who wishes to remain anonymous, for offering to pay my registration fees for the RAeS conference.