SpaceToday reports that a Russian millionaire may be the next ISS tourist. The giggle factor for space tourism continues its death spiral.

Apparently some amateur rocketeer (though there’s rumor he was actually a fireworks maker) blew himself up in Denver. Sad for the family, potentially very bad news for amateur rocketry.

The University of Georgia has received a 5 million grant to study electromagnetic accelerators. The piece claims they can be used for launchers, but I’m extremely skeptical. Going hypersonic in the lower atmosphere doesn’t seem like a good idea to me. OTOH, for launch from the moon it could be just the ticket, but that’s a long time off.