Experts Available to Discuss Congress Approves Bill Permitting Space Tours.

TOPIC: Congress passed legislation last Wednesday to regulate commercial human spaceflight, according to an article by The Associated Press. The bill will allow the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to give permits that would allow private spacecraft operators to take passengers into space. Previously, the bill was stalled in the Senate due to disagreements regarding safety concerns for passengers and crews on such flights. The final version of the bill states the FAA will develop regulations for the protection of space tourists and crews eight years after the bill becomes law. President Bush has yet to sign the bill into law.

EXPERTS: ExpertSource can offer several highly qualified experts to comment on this story:

SpaceDev founding chairman and chief executive, Jim Benson, praised the Commercial Space Launch Amendment Act passed by the Senate late last week and urges President Bush to sign it into law. Says Benson, "The space legislation proves that SpaceDev and other small, entrepreneurial space solutions companies intense focus on safety within the space industry has been paramount from day one, and an important reason Congress agreed to pass the bill. The bill is consistent with the overall industry goals the private sector to create a dynamic, multibillion-dollar commercial space flight industry. SpaceDev has demonstrated that safe, affordable non-exploding rocket motors can be developed quickly and inexpensively." Benson brings 30 years of successful, hands-on high-tech entrepreneurial and management experience to SpaceDev. He founded the non-profit Space Development Institute and introduced the $5,000 Benson Prize for Amateur Discovery of Near Earth Objects. He is also Vice-Chairman and private sector representative on NASA's national Space Grant Review Panel and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers subcommittee on Near Earth Object Impact Prevention and Mitigation.

Dr. Sam Puma has 36 years of experience as a physician in the aerospace industry. He developed and perfected his method for the prevention of motion sickness. After retiring from Northrop, Dr. Puma established Puma Applied Science, a company created to continue his human factors research and to develop products and services based on this research. He served his internship at Travis Air Force Base in California. After this internship, his first assignment was to the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas. There he served as a medical monitor for space flights and provided medical care for the astronauts and their families. He was honored to be serving the astronauts and especially enjoyed that part of his work that involved flying the skies with them. During medical school, Dr. Puma had received his private pilot's license. He developed a deep love of aviation and became a skilled pilot. His interest in flying was appreciated by the astronauts, several of whom recommended him for a special training program. Through this program, Dr. Puma became one of the very few physicians ever chosen by the Air Force to become a jet fighter pilot. During his career in the military, Dr. Puma was not only a flight surgeon and test pilot, but he also devoted his energy and expertise to crew systems and life support research and development. After retiring from the Air Force with the rank of Colonel, Dr. Puma joined Northrop Aircraft Corporation as a senior scientist. While at Northrop, he was responsible for concept development and project management for aero-medical, life support, and advanced fighter crew protection systems. Dr. Puma's innovative work on advanced systems resulted in a number of patents and scientific publications.

Professor Edgar Choueiri, of Princeton University, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, is an expert on theoretical, numerical and experimental research in astronautical and aerospace engineering, spacecraft propulsion, advanced electric and plasma propulsion and thrusters for spacecraft, orbital mechanics and space travel, space mission analysis, micropropulsion, plasma physics and dynamics, plasma sources and devices, plasma instabilities and wave-particle interactions, plasma turbulence, plasma processing, cathode physics, APL computer language and programming.

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