The emerging commercial spaceflight industry is a dynamic community, and Patricia Hynes is determined to bring all facets together for the International Symposium for Personal Spaceflight (ISPS 2007) in October.

“No other space conference has a focus on personal and commercial spaceflight,” says Hynes, director of the NMSU-based New Mexico Space Grant Consortium and organizer of the symposium. “Our purpose is to inform people about the emerging personal and commercial spaceflight business and to help the business grow.”

The two-day symposium will have sessions devoted to vehicle development, space tourism, spaceport development, and business issues such as marketing, financing and insurance.

ISPS 2007, the third iteration of the symposium that precedes the annual X PRIZE Cup competitions, will be held Oct. 24 and 25 at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces. The X PRIZE Cup “rocket festival” will follow Oct. 27 and 28 at Holloman Air Force Base.

Symposium speakers and panelists will include entrepreneurs who are leading the new space age, veteran space travelers and others with expertise in business development. The opening session alone will feature Peter Diamandis, CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation; Michael Simpson, president of International Space University, based in France; and Elon Musk, founder of PayPal and SpaceX. SpaceX, winner of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services competition, is designing and building a launch system and spaceship to transport cargo and then astronauts to the International Space Station.

Each of the symposium’s panels will include a veteran astronaut to provide the perspective of someone who has flown in space.

Arianespace, the leading commercial launch company in the world, is the event’s title sponsor.

“Arianespace will bring one of their launch operators from French Guiana to speak in the session on spaceport development,” Hynes says. “We need to understand that growing the spaceport network is important for us. There are no competitors, really. New Mexico’s Spaceport America will thrive only if there is a network of spaceports across the globe.”

Co-sponsoring organizations include the X PRIZE Foundation, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Association of Space Explorers and the Space Foundation.

Pre-registration is $300 and registration at the door is $325. Meals are included.

For more information: http://spacegrant.nmsu.edu/