Training The Commercial Space Traveler

The era of commercial space travel is here. No longer will space travel be limited to a small cadre of professionals. Space tourism is now available and will eventually become more affordable and accessible to ordinary consumers as time elapses. With this new era comes the need to train commercial space professionals. In this essay, Space strategist Gary C. Booker discusses how the training of space professionals must happen.

Today, we are living in the New Space Age, where mass commercial space travel is almost within our grasp. This otherworldly possibility has opened up new cultural images of space, both real and fictional, and has caused fashion design and spacesuit engineering to intersect in new, exciting ways. Spacewear traverses this uncharted territory by exploring the changing imagination of space in fashion-and fashion in space-from the first Space Age to the 21st century. Exploring how space travel has stylistically and technologically framed fashion design on earth and how we need to revisit established design practices for the weightless environment, Spacewear connects the catwalk and the space station. This book draws together speculative fantasies in sci-fi films such as Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey, with the engineered spacesuits Biosuit, and the NASA Z-2 and with catwalk interpretations by the likes of Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan, André Courrèges, and Iris van Herpen. While the development of commercial space agencies has led to new concerns for style in garments for outer space that re-think fundamental design principles such as drape, high fashion has experimented with new possibilities for weightlessness that extend far beyond the 1960s vision of Space Age metallic fabrics and helmet-style headwear. Brownie takes the reader on a fascinating journey from fantasy to function and to form, deepening our understanding of this new category of fashion that is prompting new approaches to garment design and construction both on earth and in outer space.

Space isn't just the final frontier-it's big business! From exploration to space vacations, learn how private businesses are transforming the future of space travel and exploration.

James Vincent is a "world class" musician. That he is not a household name is entirely by his choice, yet almost all who have seen him perform or heard his recordings have become his fans. He has written a unique, brutally honest account of his life... his childhood and discovery of the guitar; his going on the road at seventeen to play in seedy dives and military service clubs; later, in famous upscale clubs across the country; then making records and playing huge concert venues. James gives us an inside look at the recording industry... the studios, the performers, producers and promoters. He gives us behind the scenes insights into many famous personalities... names like Santana, Garcia, Harrison and Cetera, and acknowledges some unsung heroes in the music world. His cast of characters includes the very rich and the down and out, the saint and the prostitute, the famous, the infamous and the very bizarre. This is a story about learning the hard way; about dysfunctional families, choices and consequences, lust, infidelity, despair, triumph, tragedy, friendship and betrayal. Most of all, it is a life's journey to discover the meaning of unconditional love and spiritual fulfillment. It is indeed, an odyssey. -R.J.M.

Plunketts Health Care Industry Almanac is the only complete reference to the American Health Care Industry and its leading corporations. Whatever your purpose for researching the health care field, youll find this massive reference book to be a valuable guide. No other source provides this books easy-to-understand comparisons of national health expenditures, emerging technologies, patient populations, hospitals, clinics, corporations, research, Medicare, Medicaid, managed care, and many other areas of vital importance. Included in the market research sections are dozens of statistical tables covering every aspect of the industry, from Medicare expenditures to hospital utilization, from insured and uninsured populations to revenues to health care expenditures as a percent of GDP. A special area covers vital statistics and health status of the U.S. population. The corporate analysis section features in-depth profiles of the 500 major for-profit firms (which we call The Health Care 500) within the many industry sectors that make up the health care system, from the leading companies in pharmaceuticals to the major managed care companies. Details for each corporation include executives by title, phone, fax, website, address, growth plans, divisions, subsidiaries, brand names, competitive advantage and financial results. Purchasers of either the book or PDF version can receive a free copy of the company profiles database on CD-ROM, enabling key word search and export of key information, addresses, phone numbers and executive names with titles for every company profiled.

Aviation plays vital roles in commerce, defense, science and leisure travel. Irrespective of the purpose of flight, crew and passengers are challenged by exposure to a variety of environmental conditions that can differ widely from work and travel environments on the surface of the Earth. With anticipated changes in aviation and space technology, new challenges to health and safety of crew and passengers can be expected. In this Research Topic, we welcome contributions from those whose work and interests are relevant to the health and safety of crew and passengers. This includes, but is not limited to, health and safety professionals, FAA examiners, corporate medical officers, aerospace and occupational physicians, physiologists, military and scientific team members, public health professionals, as well as engineers who are tasked with crew and passenger health and safety design projects. While 4.1 billion passengers fly on commercial airlines annually (and this figure is even higher when taking into account privately owned aircraft and military flight), for the most part aviation is safe. Passengers do arrive at their destinations with little concern to their own well-being and flight is generally well tolerated. However, older flyers, people with (diagnosed or undiagnosed) preexisting disease, and other vulnerable passengers (such as young children and pregnant women) may be at risk of complications and crew may be at special risk due to the frequency and duration of their many flight-related exposures. Health and safety issues for crew and passengers include but are not limited to: potentially severe circadian rhythm disruption, potential health effects of low-level cosmic ionizing radiation exposure at altitude, reduced oxygen delivery and tissue hypoxia at cabin pressurization, cabin air contamination by engine gases, toxic materials used in uniforms and some cabin seat materials, occupational noise, pesticides used for cabin disinsection, lack of adequate crew rest on layovers or between flights, cardiovascular demands of flight and effects of flight-related dehydration, the current absence of screening protocols especially in the context of a rising number of elderly and vulnerable flyers, lack of healthy nutrition at airports and in flight, availability of food and hydration as well as adequate cabin temperature under delay conditions, effects of alcohol use on flight-related physiological and behavioral health risks, anxiety and psychological distress associated with air travel, the effects of long-haul or ultra-long-haul flights on thromboembolic events as well as smoking cessation efforts and related psychological outcomes, job-related stress and harassment among crew. Cosmic ionizing and non-ionizing radiation exposure have drawn attention as have historic exposures of crew and passengers to second-hand cigarette smoke. The threat of political and interpersonal violence and altercations involving aviation cannot be overlooked. On-board medical emergencies run a wide gamut and the capacity to respond becomes more problematic as the duration of flights becomes longer or in the case of flight over oceans and the poles. In addition, in-flight and post flight embolisms and myocardial infarctions are more prevalent than might be expected. We hence encourage manuscripts that address in-flight medical response, including the capabilities on different types of aircraft on potential interventions by crew and medical volunteers. In addition, aviation as a vector for the carriage of disease is a significant concern to public health and security of populations world-wide, and we welcome submissions regarding infectious disease epidemiology and medicine as it relates to air travel. Insects and occasional unplanned travel by birds and rodents can present additional public health concerns. We are approaching an era where space travel may soon be increasingly common. Future flights for near-Earth orbit by leisure travelers and as well as travel to the moon and Mars raise a host of new questions with health and safety implications. What are the proposed health and safety accommodations going to be? Who will be allowed to travel? Perhaps the most interesting question is - who will make the rules?

'Astronauts For Hire' is a comprehensive and authoritative study of the increasing need for commercial astronauts. Erik Seedhouse provides unique insights into the burgeoning new field of commercial space operation and the individuals who will run these missions. Section I begins by describing how Astronauts for Hire (A4H) was created in 2010 by Brian Shiro, a highly qualified NASA astronaut candidate, and a group of other astronaut candidates. Erik introduces A4H's vision for opening the space frontier to commercial astronauts and describes the tantalizing science opportunities offered when suborbital and orbital trips become routine. Section II describes the vehicles astronauts will use. Anticipation is on the rise for the new crop of commercial suborbital and orbital spaceships that will serve the scientific and educational market. These reusable rocket-propelled vehicles are expected to offer quick, routine, and affordable access to the edge of space, along with the capability to carry research and educational crew members. The quick turnaround of these vehicles is central to realizing the profit-making potential of repeated sojourns by astronauts to suborbital and orbital heights. Section III describes the various types of missions this new corps of astronauts will fly and who will hire them. For example, suborbital flights may be used to do high altitude astronomy, life science experiments, and microgravity physics. This section continues with an examination of the types of missions that will accelerate human expansion outward, to Exploration Class missions through lunar bases, the establishment of interplanetary spaceports, and outposts on the surface of Mars. Along the way it describes the tasks commercial astronauts will perform, ranging from mining asteroids to harvesting helium.