posted 05-09-2006 05:50 PM            

43 years after the first human being rocketed into outer space, a local San Diego company, SpaceDev, built a unique hybrid rocket motor that powered Burt Rutan's and Microsoft's Paul Allen's SpaceShipOne on to win the $10 million Ansari X-Prize in 2004. It opened the heavens for non-governmental human spaceflight access and opportunity.

On Friday, May 12th, The Mars Society - San Diego in cooperation with the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center will host an evening of "COMMERCIAL HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT: FASTER, BETTER AND CHEAPER" with Jim Benson, the founding chairman and chief technology officer of SpaceDev, Inc., a publicly owned space exploration and development company headquartered in Poway, California, near San Diego. SpaceDev is currently designing a piloted sub-orbital spacecraft that could eventually be scaled up for orbital flights. SpaceDev has been awarded a contract to create a conceptual mission architecture and mission design for a human servicing mission to the Lunar south pole.

This multimedia event will be held at 6:30pm in the Lecture Hall at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park, 1875 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101. Admission to this event is FREE with an RHFSC Exhibit Gallery or IMAX Theater ticket.
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ABOUT THE MARS SOCIETY

The Mars Society is dedicated to promoting the human exploration of Mars through scientific, technical, political, and educational means. The San Diego chapter is a local grass roots group supporting these goals. For more information, visit http://MarsSanDiego.org

ABOUT SPACEDEV, INC.

SpaceDev, Inc., is a publicly owned space exploration and development company headquartered in Poway, California, near San Diego. For more information, visit www.spacedev.com

ABOUT THE FLEET