November 2, 2006 – From roaring rockets to the space elevator competition to Armadillo Aerospace's Pixel lander, the Wirefly X Prize Cup held in Las Cruces, NM Oct. 20th-21st was fun and educational. It demonstrated the power of commerce and creativity, of profit and purpose. As written in this week's Aviation Week & Space Technology, "... venture capital and serious public money is finding its way into the nascent U.S. commercial spaceflight industry."

The Space Frontier Foundation demonstrated its commitment to NewSpace by greatly expanding its presence this year, contributing to both the fun and education... what a great blend!

Fun
Expanding our tradition of having hospitality suites at space events, our party was the place to be Saturday evening, with over 300 people filling the room.

Newly-inducted Space Frontier Foundation Advocate Will Watson did a tremendous job pulling this together. And many SFF members were there to show the flag... thank you all.

I'd also like to thank our co-sponsors, excellent examples of NewSpace firms and entrepreneurs:
RocketplaneKistler
Orbital Outfitters
ZSpace (Misuzu Onuki, SFF Advocate and Asia Liaison)
SpacePartnerships.com (Frank Schowengerdt)

Education
Our Teachers in Space project booth was featured at the entrance to the exhibits tent. With 6000 children at the Wirefly X Prize Cup on Friday, the connection between NewSpace and education is clearly important. Congratulations to Project Leader Bill Boland and his entire team for another successful outreach event.

Learn about our Teachers in Space project.

See you at the X Prize Cup next year!

Jeff Krukin

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