James Benson (In
Memoriam, 1945-2008)
The founder and CEO of Benson Space Company
whose innovative rocket engines and Dream Chaser spaceship make him a front
runner in the race to orbital Space Tourism
The founder and CEO of Bigelow Aerospace,
developer and builder of future inflatable, commercial orbital space stations
September
John D. Carmack
The founder and lead engineer of Armadillo Aerospace,
front runner in the2007
Wirefly X
Prize Cup,Northrop
Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
December
Anousheh Ansari
The financial powerhouse behind the Ansari X
Prize and the driving force behind Space Adventures, Ltd. entry
into commercial sub-orbital spaceflight
Sir Richard Branson
Leader, showman and marketing wiz of the Virgin
Group hoping for his company, Virgin Galactic, to become the first commercial
sub-orbital Space Tourism company
June
Elon Musk
CEO and Chief Technology Officer of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) working
towards making his company the launch leader for low cost and reliable access to
space
September
Jeff Bezos
Billionaire founder of Amazon.com is
bankrolling Blue Origin, LLC and their entry into the
sub-orbital space race, the New Shepard Reusable Launch System
December
Paul Allen
The co-founder of software giant Microsoft
whose financial commitment to the space vision of Burt Rutan allowed the
development of SpaceShipOne to happen
Dr. Peter H. Diamandis
Chairman of the X-Prize Foundation a non-profit organization promoting the
formation of a Space Tourism Industry
September
Burt
Rutan
Head of Scaled Composites, LLC and designer of the Ansari X-Prize winning
spacecraft, SpaceShipOne, and it's carrier aircraft, The White Knight
December
David
Gump
President and co-founder of
Transformational
Space Corporation (t/Space); leading the Space Tourism Industry to
the next level - orbital spaceflight
