FYI,

"Jim Benson Exits SpaceDev to Start Space Tourism Company"
Space.com
http://www.space.com/news/060928_benson_spacedev.html

: SpaceDev founder Jim Benson has stepped down as chairman and chief
: technology officer of the Poway, Calif.-based company to launch a
: new commercial space tourism venture called Benson Space Company.

: Benson, who said he intends to be "first-to-market" with a
: spaceship designed for suborbital and eventually orbital
: spaceflight, made his announcement Sept. 28, the same day Sir
: Richard Branson was set to unveil at the Wired NEXTFest Forum in
: New York a full-scale mockup of SpaceShipTwo, a suborbital vehicle
: Branson's Virgin Galactic expects to have in service by late 2008.

: Benson said in a statement that his new company had completed a
: first round of financing, raising an undisclosed sum, and has
: requested a proposal from SpaceDev for delivery of multiple
: Dreamchaser suborbital spaceships. Benson said he expects Benson
: Space Company to be SpaceDev's biggest customer for the
: Dreamchaser, a hybrid-rocket-propelled spaceship still in
: development.

: "My biggest challenges over the next few months will be evaluating
: SpaceDev's response to our proposal request, negotiating the
: contract for the development of our first spaceships, and
: completing second-round financing for this new venture," Benson
: said in the statement.

Mark Reiff