Let’s be honest with ourselves a moment. It’s an extraordinarily rare event in ones life to essentially be handed a clean slate and be allowed to take a do-over. I’ve made tons of decisions about the direction of my life, and while I have always wondered what would have happened if I made this or that decision differently, I can’t actually think of a time where I’ve been given the opportunity to basically start over and begin again.
Well, that’s exactly what has happened.
Jim Benson, an entrepreneur and founder of both SpaceDev and Benson Space Company, a man I had never met much less ever spoken to, heard about the painful decision I made back in 2006 and felt that it would be great fun to make everything right again.
In a nutshell, I’m to do some contract work for Benson Space Company as a Consumer Test Consultant. They’ve retained veteran former NASA Astronaut and Navy pilot Hoot Gibson to test fly the vehicle, but they also need somebody to go through the steps of actually simulating everything that a paying passenger will go through. I get to be that guy. My head is still spinning with the idea.
I’ve already started doing my own research into the technologies that Benson Space Company intends to leverage in order to compete with (and beat!) the other well-known fledgling space companies. I must say I’m impressed with the research and development efforts that have gone into everything so far. What they’re putting together seems so elegant yet simple, which is a concept I very much admire (especially as a software guy).
So, come back and visit this site soon for future updates. I’m learning a lot every day and want to be able to provide some good information for other people interested in this sort of thing. And for all you other space enthusiasts who may have had that twinkle in their eye about riding a rocket sometime in their lives, be sure to visit both www.bensonspace.com, as well as www.freetriptospace.com. You never know, it could even happen to you.
HAL 9000: What is going to happen?
Dave Bowman: Something wonderful.