FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
02 OCT 00
SAN DIEGO, CA, USA
Mr. Richard Van Allen Joins Transorbital Board Of Directors
TransOrbital, Inc., a leader in the commercial development of Space, is pleased to announce that Mr. Richard Van Allen has been elected to the TransOrbital Board of Directors. Mr. Van Allen brings to the TransOrbital Board years of Senior Executive experience in the management of complex technical projects for deep space exploration.
Mr. Van Allen holds a Ph.D. and M.S. Aerospace Engineering, and a B.S. Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University.
Mr. Van Allen's broad background includes space flight operations, advanced studies, manufacturing, and marketing. Mr. Van Allen's experience includes working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA as the Voyager Spacecraft Navigation Team Chief; working at the Lunar Surface Operations Office at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space Center); working with Hughes Aircraft Company in Space Communications; and working on efforts to design and fly a solar sail spacecraft. Mr. Van Allen has received seven NASA Awards and is the author and co-author of seven technical papers.
TransOrbital, Inc. is a supplier of aerospace design and analysis services, spacecraft, and commercial space missions. Currently, TransOrbital is constructing a spacecraft for the 2001 TrailBlazer project, a commercial lunar orbiter designed to return high-resolution video images from the moon.
Established in 1998, TransOrbital (http://www.transorbital.net) intends to win the new "Race to the Moon" by being the first company to orbit the Moon with a completely commercial spacecraft, 2001 TrailBlazer. The spacecraft's prime mission is to return HDTV video from lunar orbit for use as commercial products. The spacecraft will also deliver small cargo items to the moon such as personal memorabilia, business cards etc. The 2001 TrailBlazer Project is a for-profit space venture.
"We want to do for the Moon what Jacques Cousteau did for marine exploration - to go, look, sell the images and repeat it again and again."
The 2001 TrailBlazer project will be presented at the Space Frontier Conference 9 (http://www.space-frontier.org/Events/SFC9); Oct. 19-22 in Los Angeles, CA at the Manhattan Beach Marriott.
Point of Contact:
TransOrbital may be reached at:
Tel: 858-455-5900 or 703-960-5953
Fax: 858-455-5979 or 603-619-5538
E-mail: at dlaurie@transorbital.net.
Further information may be found on the TransOrbital website at http://www.transorbital.net.