The Astronaut Farmer

If you're at all interested in the current, real-world efforts to build private spaceships, you'll be disappointed by this movie about an aerospace engineer/rancher building his own ride to space. Filmmakers Mark and Michael Polish didn't do their homework on what it actually takes to build a private spaceship, and the film suffers mightily for it.

Michael Polish describes his inspiration for the film this way in an interview on the Smithsonian Air & Space website:

"One day I walked into Mark’s room and said, 'Wouldn’t it be a neat idea if a guy built a rocket in his barn?” It was that simple. I might have been watching space programs or something on the Discovery Channel.'"

An even neater idea would be to visit one or two people actually building rockets in their barns, garages, or airplane hangars, or hire one of them as an expert adviser. Without this kind of basic research the film looks like someone's vague idea of what such a project might look like, rife with silly misconceptions.

For instance the plot turns on the FBI moving in to shut the astronaut down before he can launch because he tries to obtain "high-test rocket fuel," thus creating a national security threat. Apparently the filmmakers didn't know that rocket fuel is nothing more than kerosene, and not much to get excited about.

Not only the FBI, but also the CIA, NASA, and the FAA, all take a such an interest in the project that they bother to send representatives (including the heads of the FAA and the CIA) to the astronaut's small town in Texas to interrogate him in a high school gymnasium. During a break in the proceedings, the CIA head threatens the astronaut in the men's room, saying he'll bomb the astronaut and his ranch to bits if he tries to launch.

You only have to search on Google for "private spaceflight" to know that homebuilt spaceships got real back in 2004 and that everyone and his mother are building their own spaceships now, no intimidation by the FAA, the CIA, or any other "A" required.

That the Polish brothers missed that is a real shame because their film perpetuates the myth that the government will allow only the government to send people into space and that private spaceflight is only one or two people's crazy dream with little relevance for everyone else.

An excellent cast, including Billy Bob Thornton as the citizen-astronaut, and Bruce Willis as a NASA astronaut, lend a little shine to an otherwise deeply flawed film. In particular, Thornton's speech to his interrogators about the importance in believing you can do anything you set your mind to, and a monologue from Willis on the overview effect almost, but not quite, make the movie worth watching.

--
Update on 2/26/07

Some in the private space community are more forgiving of the film than I. Check out some enthusiastic comments from XCOR Aerospace test pilot Rick Searfoss and Space Frontier Foundation cofounder Rick Tumlinson at Alan Boyle's Cosmic Log.

Rocketeers new cover

Rocketeers
Originally uploaded by mpbelfiore.

I spoke too soon when I said the cover for my forthcoming commercial spaceflight book was finalized. Turns out a certain high-volume bookseller thought it lacked punch, so the designers went back to the drawing board and came up with this one.

The artwork, by Nick Kaloterakis, is from the February 2006 cover of Popular Science, illustrating my story on the Rocket Racing League.

I like the book jacket a lot; it looks like a retro science fiction book cover, which is completely appropriate, since the book is about old-time science fiction coming true.

Blue Origin posts test flight pics, videos

This just went up today, on the freshly-revamped site of spaceship startup Blue Origin.

Blue Origin is run and financed by Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, and it's been maintaining media silence since its inception.

These pictures and videos from a test flight conducted on November 13 in West Texas leave no doubt about the seriousness of the company's plans to send commercial astronauts into space in a vertical takeoff/vertical landing rocket ship.

From the looks of the videos, the test vehicle could have easily won last year's Lunar Lander Challenge, for which Armadillo Aerospace competed and failed to win.

A Blue Origin media rep confirmed for me by email that the new material was posted today, but that no one at the company is doing interviews. Poor guy. Hope he has other clients to attend to.

--update on 1/4/07--
Robin Snelson points out on Alan Boyle's Cosmic Log that the test vehicle's probable hydrogen peroxide fuel would make it ineligible for competition in the Lunar Lander Challenge.

Rocketeers complete

Today I handed in the first draft of Rocketeers, my forthcoming book on commercial spaceflight. All 117,007 words of it, including endnotes. That's 389 manuscript pages, for those of you who don't get paid by the word. Or, probably about 320 pages in the published book.

Getting the manuscript in to my editor at Smithsonian Books today puts me right on schedule for the planned July 31, 2007 publication date. Just in time to take a little breather for the holidays, too.

Once I get my editor's feedback, I'll have to get cracking on rewrites and fact checking. And gathering photos for the photo spread, which will be in full color, I'm happy to report. And putting together an index.

Still a lot of work to be done, but the biggest chunk of it is behind me--three years of research and a year of writing. Whew!

Here's an updated chapter list:

Foreword (by a celebrity)
Prologue: Full Circle (origins of the book)
Chapter 1: Space or Bust (the X Prize)
Chapter 2: Go! (X Prize competitors)
Chapter 3: The Homebuilt Spaceship (SpaceShipOne)
Chapter 4: SpaceShipOne, Government Zero (winning the X Prize)
Chapter 5: NASA Hitches a Ride (X Prize aftermath)
Chapter 6: The 200G Roller Coaster (first commercial spacelines)
Chapter 7: Orbit on a Shoestring (SpaceX)
Chapter 8: Budget Suites of Outer Space (Bigelow Aerospace)
Chapter 9: Spaceport! (spaceports)
Chapter 10: The Sky's No Limit (the future)
End notes
Index

t/Space still flying

Just got off the phone with David Gump, president of Transformational Space Corporation (t/Space), a finalist for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. Gump confirms that t/Space is still in operation despite losing out to SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler for NASA money to develop commercial spaceships for supplying the International Space Station.

It was t/Space that got the COTS ball rolling by suggesting to NASA that it pay t/Space for meeting milestones on the way toward developing a new spaceship that NASA would hire rather than owning and operating itself.

If t/Space didn't meet a milestone, NASA could walk away from the deal without losing any more money. If the company succeeded, NASA would end up with a lower-cost spaceship than one built under the traditional cost plus contracts that have resulted in tremendous cost overruns in the past. Which would leave NASA free to spend most of its efforts on its return-to-the-moon mission while continuing to meet its obligations for Space Station.

In exchange for a mere $6 million in NASA study money for coming up with ideas for paper spaceships, t/Space went balls-out and built actual, flying hardware instead to prove the viability its proposal. See my Popular Science article on t/Space for more details.

The same month (June, 2005) that t/Space successfully demonstrated a novel method for air launching spaceships, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin announced that he would seek proposals for building commercial spaceships using the exactly the money-for-milestones scheme proposed by t/Space. No coincidence, I think.

Gump says he and his company have a tougher road ahead of them without development money from NASA but that he intends to compete for contracts to service Space Station after the Space Shuttle retires in 2010. "There are customers in the national security sector who were disappointed that we weren't one of NASA's selections and are continuing to want to utilize us," Gump told me, "and there are commercial customers that we've met with and would use us as well." No deals have been cut yet for development money, though, so stay tuned for specifics.

Meanwhile, t/Space's booster provider, Air Launch LLC, is making steady progress toward building satellite launchers under Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Air Force contracts. Scaled up versions of these launchers will comprise t/Space's boosters, so t/Space isn't just stuck in a holding pattern waiting for money to come through--development is continuing.

Dr. Space

I'll be on Dr. David ("Dr. Space") Livingston's "The Space Show" to talk about my forthcoming commercial spaceflight book tomorrow night!

If you're in the Seattle area, you can tune in to KKNW at 1150 AM at 7 p.m. Pacific time, Tuesday November 14. Otherwise, hit the Web/Podcast at www.thespaceshow.com (where you'll get a bonus half hour).

If you don't know about The Space Show, you're in for a treat. Dr. Livingston routinely interviews most of the major players in the emerging commercial space industry and a whole lot of other folks who have had a major influence as well. Last night he had on Ed Mitchell, an Apollo moonwalker who has fascinating things to say about the spiritual benefits of space travel.

Another great thing about The Space Show is that in-depth interviews is all it does, so you get extended discussion with space entrepreneurs you can't get anywhere else. Short of calling these folks up yourself, you just can't get any closer.

Speaking of calling, you can ask me questions on the air during the show at (866) 687-7223. You can also send questions to be relayed to me on the air by Dr. Livingston to drspace@thespaceshow.com, or by instant chat via AOL IM,ICQ, or CompuServe to user name "spaceshowchat."

Book cover finalized

I think it's a clean, elegant design that tells the story. How do you show some exciting rocket hardware on a book jacket without favoring any one project or builder? That's how. The designers had a tough assignment and I think they pretty much aced it. Also, all that big print should show up well on Bigelow's space module. What do you think?