BILL MCINERNEY, PARALEGAL

I don't think the U.S. government should support it, but I think that it's up to the people who are paying the money. I think that if private citizens want to spend their money that way, they should be able to do that. I am not aware of any issues that would require this activity to be state-regulated.

KIM BEST, ARTIST

I think that space tourism renews interest in the space program when you have celebrities going up in space, but on the other hand, you want to hold on to the integrity of the space program at the same time because such an activity can compromise it. So I think you have to weigh your priorities: the renewed public interest in the space program on the one hand and compromising it on the other.

ARTHUR SPITZER, LAWYER

I don't think the United States should make it a crime for someone to build and use their own spaceship. But it's a different question when you talk about the government. I have no opinion on whether the U.S. government should allow private citizens to buy space on its own spaceships. I suppose someone has to make a decision about the priority of payloads on a spacecraft. I certainly don't have enough information to have an opinion.

DAVID DREYER, CONSULTANT

I believe the U.S. government should support space tourism. The idea for space travel should be to open it up broadly for citizens, and probably the best hedge against only having militarization of space is promoting civilian travel there.

RICHARD KUISEL, PROFESSOR

I don't mind using the U.S. space program for commercial purposes, given that there is no bearing on taxpayers' money. If it's a purely commercial operation, I think they can do it.

MELISSA PEAL, TEACHER

I don't think the U.S. government should allow space tourism. I think that people [who go up in space] should be highly trained, and right now it seems like it's very experimental. They go up and they do scientific experiments and things that just cost so much money. We should really focus on making progress and not sending people out just because they want to go.