“Cheapair.com CEO Jeff Klee on why it’s worth accepting bitcoin as a form of payment.”
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2870650794001/cheapaircom-ceo-on-accepting-bitcoin/
“A bitcoin is currently trading for around $763, versus $10 at the start of the year. You’ll need to pony up $250,000, or 327.7 BTC, to spend about 10 minutes weightless on the edge of space. The first customer to have paid in Bitcoins is a stewardess in Hawaii ‘who made quite a lot of money by getting into Bitcoin early on,’ Branson said. Branson has confidence that Bitcoin will go higher, as the systems controlling the crypto-currency limit the total amount of Bitcoins in circulation. This prevents the money printing (excuse us, ‘quantitative easing’) that central banks indulge in to doom subsequent generations to crippling inflation (‘stabilize markets’).”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/22/when_hot_cash_meets_a_vacuum_virgin_galactic_takes_bitcoin/
“Virgin Galactic, which will provide space flights to tourists, is now accepting bitcoin. Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group founder and Chairman discusses the value and risks for his company.”
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?play=1&video=3000219699
“Billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson appeared on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box‘ on Friday and announced that his commercial space flight venture will accept bitcoin as payment. He called it ‘a new exciting currency.’ Virgin Galactic accepted its first purchase with bitcoin on Friday. Many bitcoin users are the type of people who will buy tickets for space travel, Branson said. Branson—a bitcoin investor—did the interview from his private island in the Caribbean, Necker Island, where the rebuilding project of his luxury home is now complete. The previous one burned down two years ago.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101220710
“Robert Bigelow, the founder of Bigelow Aerospace, made a fortune in the hotel and real estate businesses, and he’s pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into an enterprise that will create inflatable habitats designed for life beyond Earth. He entered into an agreement with NASA to provide a report on how ventures like his could help NASA get back to the moon, and even Mars, faster and cheaper. The catch? It needs to be worth his while. Bigelow is applying to the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation to amend a 1967 international agreement on the moon so that a system of private property rights can be established there.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101195299
“Once upon a time human transactions were underpinned by exchange of cows, camels, goats and cowrie shells. Then came metal coins. A gold standard reigned until just half a century ago. It was only in this millennium that credit card penetration achieved depth in India. Change is the only constant on earth. Now we are set for journeys to Mars. As we prepare to work and live in space, we wonder how we will conduct transactions up there. Not in rupees and dollars, surely? So when downloading our first bitcoin, we should take heart from Spock’s advice — For everything, there is a first time. Beam me up, Scotty — beam me up right there.”
“The test was the final milestone in the company’s Commercial Crew Development 2 (CCDev-2) agreement with NASA; the company is already well on its way through completing the follow-on Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) award. ‘We believe that we satisfied the requirements’ of the CCDev-2 milestone, he said. ‘NASA needs to review and [is] expected to do that within 30 days.’ Sirangelo emphasized that the key part of the test was testing the flight characteristics of the Dream Chaser and verifying them against models, noting that the test was the first flight of lifting body ‘of this type’ since the 1970s.”
http://www.newspacejournal.com/2013/10/30/snc-dream-chaser-flight-a-success-despite-gear-failure/
“‘Overview’ is a short film that explores this phenomenon through interviews with five astronauts who have experienced the Overview Effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for society, and our relationship to the environment.”
“SpaceX released Saturday video from the latest flight of its Grasshopper reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology demonstrator. The flight took place on Monday, October 7, from the company’s test site near McGregor, Texas. The vehicle flew to a peak altitude of 744 meters, the highest flight yet for the vehicle, before returning to a powered landing back on pad it lifted off from. The company did not release other technical details about the flight.”
http://www.newspacejournal.com/2013/10/12/grasshopper-flies-again-sets-new-altitude-record/
“Un-redacted documents published on Pacer.gov reveal that or years the TSA has not believed that there is a domestic threat at airports — yet they have continued with the security theatre anyway.”