Team includes space industry leaders and visionaries
AUSTIN – November 7, 2005 – SpaceShot, Inc. is proud to announce a launch team of internationally recognized experts to create a new internet game of skill. The path-breaking tournament will be awarding suborbital spaceflights on the Rocketplane XP. Play starts this autumn to award flights taking place in 2007.
SpaceShot will finally achieve the decades-long goal of awarding space trips to people paying under five dollars.
Rocketplane suborbital vehicle cutaway diagram
“The team we have assembled represents the best in the industry. These are American visionaries. Together, we will bring spaceflight to people of all means,” announced SpaceShot founder Dr. Sam Dinkin. “Space is not just for the wealthy!
The SpaceShot team is led by Renaissance man Dr. Sam Dinkin. His business credits include dozens of patents, billions of dollars in auctions and state of the art software.
Accessible space travel will not be the first new industry started by Dr. Dinkin. He also researched and tested the first Internet B2B marketplace at GE in the summer of 1995.
As an economics expert, Dr. Dinkin wrote the regulations for the Texas Electricity Capacity Auctions. The software he devised is used by the electricity distribution companies of New Jersey. They bought over $25 billion in electric power through 2008. eBay only recently exceeded Dr. Dinkin’s total of $90 billion in cost of goods sold.
As a research staff member at IBM’s TJ Watson Research, Dr. Dinkin had 8 patents granted and 28 patents pending from his two years there.
Dr. Dinkin recently plunged into the space field. He became an investor in space start-ups in 2003. He is now serving on the advisory boards of the Colony Fund and the Space Settlement Institute. His recommendation to enhance space property rights was adopted by the Aldridge Commission on national space policy. He writes a weekly column at The Space Review and blogs at Transterrestrial Musings. Dr. Dinkin sponsored the Space Journalism Prize. In October, he was honored as a Space Advocate in the Space Frontier Foundation.
Dr. Dinkin studied economics at Caltech and received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Arizona after studying under Nobel-Prize winner Vernon Smith. He has published academic papers in economics, law and aeronautics in the most prestigious peer reviewed journals and proceedings of their fields. These include the American Economic Review, The Journal of Law and Politics and The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
The SpaceShot web development effort is being led by Mike Massee of the Raindrop Media Group. Mr. Massee is a veteran developer of space media content including award winning material for Rotary Rocket, XCOR Aerospace and Scaled Composite’s SpaceShipOne. He is also a member of the pit crew for EZ-Rocket. It just flew last month at the Countdown to the X-Prize Cup in New Mexico.
Rocketplane suborbital vehicle concept The SpaceShot Advisory Board is a who’s who of space visionaries including David Livingston of The Space Show, Jeff Goldsmith of IGN and JPL before that, Joe Latrell of Beyond Earth Enterprises, and the former head of risk management at a Fortune 50 company who will be announced shortly.
SpaceShot recently announced a partnership with Rocketplane, Ltd. Inc. They have executed an escrow agreement that provides maximum protection of the money to buy suborbital spaceflight tickets. The arrangement includes SIPC insured accounts, a top 25 accountancy and two banks.
Human factors and aerospace medical screening advice is being obtained from Dr. John Jurist, MD who is considered among the best in his field. Dr. Jurist is now consulting with a number of personal spaceflight companies for similar advice.
SpaceShot has also assembled an all-star legal team. Corporate legal assistance is being provided by Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati. SpaceShot’s gaming lawyer is Martin Owen. He co-authored the book Internet Gaming Law, published in 2005.
The website www.space-shot.com will launch a series of online skill games this autumn. Those interested in finding out more information may sign up on the website for email updates.
SpaceShot, Inc. is a Texas corporation bringing the hope of space travel to people of all means. SpaceShot will produce and host tournaments of skill with space travel prizes.
This news release may include “forward-looking” statements that involve risk and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially due to a variety of factors.
