Reach for

the stars!

In the Space Tourism Spotlight

Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria is an Indian-American entrepreneur. He was born in New Delhi, India and raised in DuPage, Illinois since early childhood. His mother was a doctor and his father an engineer. He graduated Valedictorian of Downers Grove North High School. He holds a Bachelor of Science and a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from Brown University as well as a Master's in Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Stanford University.

Dr. Kathuria has extensive experience in the health care industry and has consulted to a broad range of organizations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He helped develop Arthur D. Little biotechnology and health care policy practice in Europe. His other consultant experiences includes serving as a consultant to the Swedish Government (Swedish Planning and Rationalization Institute of Health & Social Service) and helped devise a plan to restructure primary health care in Sweden based on the U.S. Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) model. Dr. Kathuria also served as an advisor to the Integrated Child Development Service in New Delhi, India.

Dr. Kathuria understands the business world, which has made him a very wealthy man. He has measurable success in building businesses that impact world economies and shift business models. Dr. Kathuria has founded and built many businesses which today are valued at a combined $2 billion (USD). Those business include:

• The X-Stream Networks, Inc. - Dr. Kathuria was a Director and a major shareholder and helped pioneered the free Internet Service Provider (ISP) concept. The X-Stream Network, Inc. was one of the fastest growing ISPs in the world and became the third largest ISP in the Britain. The X-Stream Networks, Inc. was sold for $75 million (USD) in cash and stock and merged with LibertySurf. The combined company went public on the Paris Stock Exchange for $2.9 billion (USD) in March 2000.

• MirCorp - Dr. Kathuria is a former founding director and was instrumental in helping build the company, which was a joint venture between Rocket & Science Corporation (RSC) Energia. MirCorp created world history on April 4th, 2000 when it became the world's first company to privately launch and fund a manned space program,by signing up Dennis Tito as the world's first Space Tourist. He also put millions of dollars into an effort to extend the life of the Russian Mir Space Station before it was finally abandoned.

• American Teleradiology & Nighthawks, Inc. - was co-founded by Dr. Kathuria. American Teleradiology supplies teleradiological services to hospitals and centers 365 days/year around the clock and today is 4th largest teleradiology reading company in the United States.

• Vimani Wireless, Inc. - this business was co-founded by Dr. Kathuria and builds and operates broadband wireless local area networks using 802.11a and 802.11b technology, i.e. Wi-Fi, in the healthcare and residential and commercial high-density unit markets.

Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria has now gone full circle. Years earlier he actually applied to be an Astronaut with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) but was rejected. He is now returning to his passion for space and space travel, by launching a new company via Kathuria Holdings that he hopes will make commercial space travel a reality. Dr. Kathuria has partnered with Canadian Arrow to form a new Canadian corporation called PlanetSpace, Inc. Canadian Arrow, which was founded by Geoffrey Sheerin originally to compete for the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE using a modernized German WWII V2 rocket, is now building the PlanetSpace spacecraft that will take future Space Tourists on a sub-orbital spaceflight adventure.

In February, 2007, NASA announced plans to provide PlanetSpace with requirements and specifications to provide crew and cargo flights to the International Space Station (ISS) under the terms of the National Aeronautics and Space Act. Initially PlanetSpace planned to utilize the Silver Dart for this purpose, but in late November 2007 they announced that their COTS proposal would utilize a spacecraft provided by Lockheed Martin instead. Eventually Dr. Kathuria wants to go beyond space travel for the common man and focus on making products in space, satellite repair and even work on waste disposal.

Back to Top

Send mail to webmaster@UniversalSpaceSystems.com with questions or comments about this Web site.
Copyright © 2005-2008 Universal Space Systems, LLC
Last modified: February 08, 2008