Pulled from NewScientist (www.newscientist.com) When SpaceShipOne blazed a contrail into the clear blue sky above the Mojave desert on 21 June 2004, it became the first privately built crewed craft to reach space. With that one flight, Burt Rutan's budget rocket plane broke the government monopoly on spaceflight - leaving pundits excitedly predicting an era of private sub-orbital space travel, with orbital travel and space hotels beckoning. But is there enough consumer demand to support commercial space flight? Maybe, according to a 2002 study by the management consultancy Futron, of Bethesda, Maryland, which boldly predicts that no less than 12,000 people a year will be taking sub-orbital tourist flights by 2020. Although SpaceShipOne's flight came well after the study was completed, it does not change any of its basic assumptions, Futron analyst Janice Starzyk says. "We made some pretty good assumptions, so we are sticking to these numbers." Read more here: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996347 Donny Duncan http://www.computer-discounts-guide.com http://www.making-an-online-living.com http://www.satellitetv-reviews.com