Old Astronauts4Hire Website

Astronauts4Hire fully supports an open letter sent to Congress  today by more than 50 space leaders, including our own Joseph Palaia . The letter urges Congress to fund the commercial crew to Space Station program and accelerate the pace of NASA's human exploration beyond Earth orbit.  These priorities are not mutually exclusive because a robust commercial crew and cargo program to low-Earth orbit will allow NASA to focus on deep space transportation and exploration systems. Historically, governments have blazed the trail into new frontiers and paved the way for private enterprises to transform society. Queen Isabella publicly sponsored the voyage of Columbus, which in turn boosted worldwide trade. Thomas Jefferson publicly funded Lewis and Clark to venture west across North America, which opened the frontier for settlers 50 years later. Aviation is similar to human spaceflight; once airlines started competing to carry passengers farther and faster, prices went down, safety went

A4H Ben Corbin (right) with Astronaut Fred Haise (center) Astronauts4Hire new recruit Ben Corbin attended the 2010 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction Gala at the Kennedy Space Center this past weekend. Corbin, who is an Astronaut Scholarship recipient (2007-2008), also attended the pre-induction gala on Friday night, which included a dinner beneath the Saturn V rocket with many Hall of Fame astronauts from all U.S. human spaceflight programs. Astronauts attendees included Buzz Aldrin , Scott Carpenter , Walt Cunningham , Fred Haise , Owen Garriot , and Story Musgrave , among many others. This year’s inductees to the Astronaut Hall of Fame were Guion 'Guy' Bluford, Jr. , Ken Bowersox , Frank Culbertson, Jr. , and Kathy Thornton , all shuttle era astronauts. Corbin’s academic advisor, Jeffrey Hoffman , who is a Hall of Fame Astronaut, was also in attendance. Corbin speaks with NASA Administrator Bolden. On Saturday, the formal induction ceremony was held at the Kennedy Spac

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 7, 2010 Astronauts4Hire expands its team of Commercial Astronaut Candidates Astronauts4Hire announced today that it has selected six new members, bringing the total number of commercial astronaut candidates in the organization to seventeen. The new Astronauts4Hire recruits bring a great depth of experience to the initiative to develop a pool of qualified commercial astronauts. Many of them are private pilots with a long resume of experience working in the aerospace industry and have extensive experience working in microgravity aboard parabolic flights. One new member is a professional triathlete and author of several books on the topic of astronaut training. The new Astronauts4Hire are: Ben Corbin – Ph.D. Student, MIT José Miguel Hurtado, Jr. – Associate Professor, University of Texas at El Paso Jason Reimuller – Ph.D. Candidate, University of Colorado Todd Romberger – Mechanical Engineer, ASRC Aerospace Erik Seedhouse – Consultant, Author, and Athlet

Brian (center) with hosts & other guests A4H co-founder and President Brian Shiro was a featured guest on the June 2 episode of Bytemarks Cafe , a weekly science and technology radio show produced by Hawaii Public Radio .  The discussion considered A4H in the wider context of both human and robotic space exploration and focused particularly on the relevance of space to Hawaii. You can listen to the show in full below: Podcast Powered By Podbean

Astronauts4Hire wishes Elon Musk and all of the hard-working people at Space Exploration Technologies ( SpaceX ) congratulations on the successful inaugural test launch of the Falcon 9 rocket. The vehicle's nine Merlin engines pushed it and a mockup of the Dragon spacecraft into orbit at 2:45pm today.  Telemetry showed the rocket's second stage and Dragon capsule hit "essentially a bullseye," according to Musk.  If you missed the live webcast, you can watch the launch video here: Some A4H members viewed the Falcon 9 at Launch Complex 40 during tours associated with the STS-132 launch last month, and A4H's own Todd Romberger and Ben Corbin viewed the spectacle in person from KSC today.  We are excited about today's successful maiden launch because it signifies a major advance in commercial spaceflight.  Launch providers like SpaceX will provide routine access into low-Earth orbit, freeing NASA to explore elsewhere in the solar system.  Today's

Team members discuss A4H with Buzz Aldrin Astronauts4Hire Jim Crowell , Luis Saraiva , Ryan Kobrick , Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto , and new recruit Todd Romberger attended the National Space Society's International Space Development Conference ( ISDC ) held on May 27-31 in Chicago, Illinois. The conference allowed members to meet face-to-face and discuss the future of A4H.  It also provided an excellent forum for networking with others in the space community to increase awareness of A4H and it's mission. The group discussed A4H with Buzz Aldrin and several prominent members of the suborbital community including Dave Masten, President/CEO of Masten Space Systems , Jeff Feige, CEO of Orbital Outfitters , and Rick Homans, Director of Spaceport America . The numerous talks and panels attended by the A4H team showed the incredible progress being made by the suborbital spaceflight industry. Masten Space Systems , Armadillo Aerospace , XCOR Aerospace , and Virgin Galactic all repo