Big news in the world of spaceflight today.

Jeff Bezos, the internet tycoon and founder of Amazon.com, lifted the veil of secrecy that has been surrounding his aerospace company for years. The Blue Origin homepage now displays many photographs and video clips documenting the first successful test flight of their atmospheric vehicle, dubbed ‘Goddard’. With stated goals that include sub-orbital tourism, but reach far beyond that to routine orbital operations, the folks at Blue Origin appear very serious.

In other news, Bigelow Aerospace continues to tantalize with plans to launch the second (Genesis II) test module for their planned orbital station – which could very well claim the title of First Orbiting Hotel. The Bigelow website continues to be an interesting hodge-podge of fascinating aerospace achievements and quirky web time-wasters.

One of my favorite daily stops continues to be the Hobbyspace website. Check the RLV section (stands for Re-usable Launch Vehicle) for all of the latest news.

I also heard that Virgin Galactic and Burt Rutan will be unveiling “SpaceShip Two” later this year. The race for space (Mark II) is officially on!  At least three separate companies are flying test vehicles and have announced their intention to offer sub-orbital tourism flights by next year.  Several other companies are actively engaged in the construction of orbital craft and other hardware. Seriously, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet!