Esther Dyson has penned a short op-ed piece for The Moscow Times explaining why she is spending about $3 million to train as a backup for a space tourism flight to ISS. It is a standard millionaut bio piece (I had stars in my eyes since I was a kid. This is my dream come true!) that recounts all of her space tourism investments and makes a plug for her genome project.
Toward the end, however, it takes a sharp right turn toward Crazytown:
Continue reading ‘Dyson: Spaceflight Training is Positive Alternative to Double Mastectomy’
Bambi Francisco of Vator News has an interview with Internet and commercial space investor Esther Dyson, who says she will soon start training as a backup for a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station.
“Was the Internet and high-tech sectors just getting boring? I asked.
“‘It’s not that the Internet is boring,’ she responded. ‘But to some extent the intellectual risk is gone.’
Continue reading ‘Esther Dyson in Training as Backup for ISS Flight’
The Antelope Valley Press has an interesting piece on financier and space enthusiast Esther Dyson, who is one of the angel investors backing XCOR Aerospace’s Lynx space tourism vehicle.
“This is a very real-world company. It’s not out here making wide-eyed promises,” Dyson told the Press.
Dyson, founder of EDventure Holdings, has investments in Space Adventures, Zero-G Corporation, Constellation Services International, Airship Ventures and Icon Aircraft. She also helped to fund Flickr and del.icio.us, which were both sold to Yahoo!
Dyson is organizing the fourth annual Flight School, which will be held in Boulder Colorado, on June 6-8. The website describes the confab as “an executive workshop for entrepreneurs who want to identify and address major challenges facing start-ups in private aviation and commercial space.”
David Livingston of The Space Show recently interviewed Dyson. You can listen to the podcast here.
Imaginova Corp. and Esther Dyson of EDventure announced today that they will jointly present Flight School 2008: Where the Rubber Meets the Clouds. The intensive three-day workshop allows participants to identify and address the major challenges facing entrepreneurs in private aviation and commercial space. Flight School 2008 will take place June 4 to 6 at the St. Julien Hotel in Boulder, Colorado.
Flight School 2008 participants will include entrepreneurs, marketers, equipment manufacturers, aircraft and facilities operators as well as analysts, investors and regulators. They will come together to share experiences, refine strategies and better understand each other’s common pursuits and competitive positions.
“Personal spaceflight and private aviation start-ups are transforming the establishment in an exciting way,” said Dyson, creator of the Flight School workshops, chairman of EDventure and former host of PC Forum. “Years ago, I watched the Internet and the PC transform information technology from a world of scientists and government-funded high priests into a vibrant, innovative sector of commercially energized and fearless start-ups who have changed the world. Flight School 2008 is assembling the pioneers who will lead a similar transformation in air and space.”
Planned discussion topics for Flight School 2008 include:
- The air traffic control challenge: Growing up around an old model
- Air taxis: What have we learned so far?
- Air charter economics: Can they last?
- Safety, reliability and innovation
- Environmental issues: Facing the facts
- Finance: Where the money meets the clouds
- Insurance and legal issues
- Sizing the commercial space market
- The aftermarket: Hotels, tours and training
Flight School 2008 workshop sessions will be moderated by Dyson; Lon Rains, Editor-in-Chief of Space News and Christian Kjelgaard, Senior Editor of Aviation.com.
