This may sound overly optimistic to many aerospace experts but nevertheless U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta says space crafts could be cleared to fly passengers by 2008.

Commercial space crafts could be cleared to carry passengers by 2008, Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta announced today. Speaking to a group of space entrepreneurs, the Secretary said that a number of companies should be set to take passengers into space and that the U.S. Department of Transportation would be ready to clear these flights within two years.

“This timeline isn’t based on science fiction,” Secretary Mineta said. “It is a timeline based on the reality of where commercial space is today and where we expect the state of commercial space to be within two short years.”

Mineta noted that the Department, which is responsible for clearing commercial space travel, would be ready to approve the passenger flights once tests of craft designed to take passengers into space were completed. The Secretary said he expected to issue permits next year to allow the test flights, and that if these flights were successful, the Department would then issue a license for passenger space travel.

“We will move quickly to green-light flights that we know are safe,” Mineta said. He added that if companies were able to complete testing sooner, the Department also would be ready. “When the industry is set for lift off, we will be ready to launch,” Mineta pledged.

The Secretary made it clear that the Department would take steps to ensure the safety of these commercial passenger space flights. But he added that the agency would make sure these checks did not delay the launch of passenger space travel.

“We have an important role to play in ensuring the safety of commercial space flights, especially for passengers,” Mineta said. “But we also have an obligation to encourage innovation and support new developments.”

The Secretary made the announcement during a keynote address to the 9th Annual Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington, DC.

More companies are gearing up for the anticipated space travel boom, in the US and around the world.

Millions of people would pay to see the Earth from space with their own eyes, not to mention the spectacular ride out of our atmosphere and then back into it.

Tags: earth, atmosphere, space travel, commercial space transportation, travel boom, us, world, space crafts

The U.S. Deputy Transportation Chief says an “energy diet” is much needed to curb US’ growing oil addiction.

Transportation industries will have to go on an “energy diet” to help end America’s addiction to oil, U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary Maria Cino said today after a demonstration of how Rhode Island’s switch from light bulbs to LEDs in traffic signals across the state is saving millions of watts of electricity and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

The nation’s deputy transportation chief said there are several innovative technologies and practices under way to help achieve the energy goals spelled out by President Bush during last month’s “State of the Union” speech.

“America is the most mobile society on earth, and that’s not going to change,” Cino said. “What is going to change,” she added, “is that our cars, trains, airplanes and ships must use significantly less oil, if they use oil at all, to move people and products in the future.”

Rhode Island’s conversion of 87 percent of state maintained traffic signals from conventional bulbs to LED lights has reduced energy consumption by nearly 90 percent and saves taxpayers $450,000 annually in electricity costs, Cino said.

She added the initiative was a great example of “how even some of the simplest changes can save energy. They are showing the Nation just how easy it can be to tighten their energy belts.”

She said the Bush Administration is doing its part to encourage new energy technology, including the investment of nearly $10 billion since 2001 to develop cleaner, cheaper and more reliable alternative energy sources, including alternatives to gasoline and diesel fuels, better batteries for hybrid cars, and pollution-free hydrogen fuel cells.

“Quitting oil does not mean that America quits moving,” Cino said.

Cino and her boss, Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, are on the road this week to promote energy saving initiatives occurring in the nation’s transportation industries. This morning, Cino toured a plant in Malta, NY where scientists are making lightweight composite metals for more fuel-efficient automobile parts.

Mineta toured a plant in suburban Detroit yesterday that makes power-saving vehicle systems that improve automobile fuel efficiency and rode with Union Pacific locomotive engineers in Omaha, NE to learn how they are saving millions of gallons of diesel fuel just by learning new techniques for driving their trains.

This proves the US is taking emerging petroleum alternatives seriously and as such, there might be more announcements coming along soon.

Tags: energy diet, diesel fuel, driving trains, locomotive engineers, union pacific, fuel efficiency, oil addiction, america

The US Department of Transportation has made a significant announcement for the future of the Myrtle Beach Airport:

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta today announced plans to spend $43 million over the next eight years to help Myrtle Beach International Airport pay for construction of an apron and new taxiways supporting the new terminal to handle growing business and attract new customers.

The investment will allow the airport to accommodate up to 14 new gates by 2022 needed in anticipation of an increase in traffic at Myrtle Beach, Mineta said.

He noted that improving capacity at smaller airports is vital to serving the increased number of travelers and businesses coming to the area.

“Our airport investment strategy must include smaller facilities that are starting to see more traffic,” Mineta said.

The Secretary also said the first installment of $4 million would be available later this year.

Myrtle Beach International Airport is one of the faster growing airports in the south handling over 785,000 passengers in 2005, an increase of almost 20,000 passengers from 2004, he said.

This announcement for Myrtle Beach International Airport is one of four financing pledges Mineta has unveiled in the past few months.

The remaining three include over $337 million for expansion at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, $200 million for a new runway at Washington Dulles International in Virginia, and $26 million for a new taxiway at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Georgia.

Tags: myrtle beach airport, taxiway, usa, airport expansion, airlines, passengers, investment, strategy