Signed copies of Rocketeers on my website

I've just put up a shopping cart at michaelbelfiore.com. You can order signed copies my forthcoming book Rocketeers there for no extra charge. I'll ship advance orders on publication day, July 31.

On The Space Show

Tune in tomorrow, July 2 to hear me talk about my forthcoming book Rocketeers on Dr. David Livingston's The Space Show at www.thespaceshow.com, 2-3:30 Pacific Time. If you're in the Seattle area, tune in to KKNW, 1150 AM.

Dr. Livingston is the radio show host for the NewSpace community, exceptionally well-informed and extremely thoughtful in his questions (as are his listeners). He's been reading a prepublication galley of my book, so we'll have a lot to talk about.

First images from Genesis II

This just in from Bigelow Aerospace. The second of the company's inflatable test modules went into orbit from Russia today and beamed back this pic, which confirms successful deployment of the craft's solar panels.

Not much to look at yet, but there's more sure to come. Stay tuned for a statement from Robert Bigelow, too.

Bigelow's making rapid progress toward sending up the first commercial space station. Can't wait to see NASA's reaction to the ship that will instantly render the International Space Station obsolete at a fraction of the cost.

NewSpace 2007 developments

Just heard from the organizers of the NewSpace 2007 conference that I'm to chair a panel discussion on commercial access to orbit. The panel has a great line-up, with more to come: http://www.space-frontier.org/Events/NewSpace2007/. Scroll down for the listing for Saturday, July 21. We go on at 9:45 a.m. This will mark my public speaking debut on the topic of my forthcoming book Rocketeers.

I've also been promised an exhibit table, which will be a great place for me bring the discussion from the panel when we run out of time there. I'll bring some advance copies of the book for folks to check out. I might be able to preview a new project I'm working on too. More on that soon....

California wildfire seen from Genesis

This just in from Bigelow Aerospace: the company's Genesis I satellite shot this view of Los Angeles and the Channel Islands last Friday, when wildfires threatened resort communities on Catalina Island.

You can see the smoke plume emanating from the island at the lower right of the photo. Click to see a bigger view.

Bigelow Aerospace is currently the only NewSpace company in orbit, with another launch planned for later this month. Genesis I and Genesis II are trial balloons--really--for the first commercial space stations. Both the test satellites and the full-scale stations are designed to be inflated from a compressed state when they reach orbit, thus saving space on launch and allowing for larger stations than is possible with conventional rigid designs.

Rocketeers reading at the National Air & Space Museum

It's a dream come true for me--the chance to talk and sign books at the permanent home of SpaceShipOne. I'll be at the National Air & Space Museum's gift shop on the National Mall on the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, July 20, from 3 to 5 p.m.

This is a pre-release event in tandem with the NewSpace 2007 conference, where the book will go on sale for the first time.

Next day, I'm to moderate a panel discussion with some of the rocketeers featured in my book at the conference. The details for that are still being worked out, so stay tuned.

Finally, on July 20, I'll read from the book and sign at the Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport. That museum features a Burt Rutan-designed VariEze, the airplane that launched Rutan's career. The VariEze led directly to Rutan's design for SpaceShipOne, and that's one of the things I'll talk about.

You can keep tabs on these and my other upcoming appearances at my website: www.michaelbelfiore.com.

Rocketeers launching at NewSpace 2007

It's official: my forthcoming book, Rocketeers, will launch at the Space Frontier Foundation's NewSpace 2007 conference. The conference runs July 18-21 in Washington, DC, more than a week before the book's release to stores. Conference-goers will have the first opportunity to buy the book.

The Space Frontier Foundation is one of the premier organizations boosting commercial spaceflight, so this is the perfect place for my book launch.

The lineup of conference speakers so far includes Apollo moonwalker Edgar Mitchell, Ed White, author of the influential book The Overview Effect, Virgin Galactic chief pilot Alex Tai, Rocketplane Kistler Passenger Number One Reda Anderson, the FAA official in charge of commercial spaceflight, Patti Grace Smith, and lots of other prominent folks in this burgeoning industry.

Smithsonian Books will donate pre-release copies of my book to the Space Frontier Foundation, which means that 100 percent of the proceeds from sales of the book will support the foundation. I'll be doing signings at the conference and participating in other activities still to be finalized.

The supply of books at the conference will be limited, so midway through the conference, on Friday, July 20, I'll be doing a reading and signing at the National Air & Space Museum, just a couple of Metro stops away. Stay tuned for more on that.