News Release

January 21, 2003

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Space: The Free-Market Frontier
New Book Calls for Opening the Final Frontier to Private Enterprise

Americans are fascinated by outer space. Many would take a trip into space if they could. But critics maintain that in the three decades since men last walked on the moon, NASA has become bogged down in bureaucracy and politics, with government-mandated regulations keeping space inaccessible to most entrepreneurs as well as to the general public.

Privatization and deregulation of industries such as airlines, trucking, and telecommunications have reduced costs and created new economic opportunities. The communications and information revolution has transformed the economy and society. It is time to unleash the dynamics of free markets in space.

Space: The Free-Market Frontier, edited by Ed Hudgins, explores the various ways in which U.S. space policy can promote space transportation, exploration, and tourism. This book includes essays by Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, private space tourist Dennis Tito, and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, among others.

Entrepreneurs already are providing private launch services, satellites, and modules for broadcast and Internet services. Other planned innovations include collecting and beaming energy to Earth from orbit, a lunar rover sponsored by Radio Shack, and even space adventure travel for private citizens. But such profitable plans require radical reforms of America's space policy and the role of NASA.

Space editor Hudgins says, "The private sector can open outer space and other worlds to scientific, commercial, and recreational use for all of humanity. This book shows the policy prerequisites to realizing these dreams."