What are the barriers to achieving commercialization of space? Which country will commercialize space first? What should NASA, academia and industry be doing now to inspire the next generation of space explorers?

These and other questions will be the focus of a panel discussion on the commercialization of space at World Space Congress 2002. The special session will take place from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18 in the World Space Congress Exhibit Hall Theater in Houston.

Participating panelists will include Dr. Paul Silber, president of StelSys, LLC, whose company purchased NASA's bioreactor technology and is now conducting commercial medical research aboard the space station to develop a type of liver dialysis machine; Mr. Dennis Tito, California businessman and the first space flight participant to visit the International Space Station; Ms. Lori Garver, former associate administrator at NASA Headquarters and space flight advocate, and Mr. Dennis Wingo, CEO of SkyCorp Inc.

NASA's Flight Commercialization Office at the Johnson Space Center, headed by Brian Kelly, is hosting the special panel session. Rick Tumlinson, space visionary and founder of the Space Frontier Foundation, will serve as moderator.

For more information about the World Space Congress visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/wsc

text-only version of this release