The six individuals will be introduced at a news conference on Thursday, June 26th at 11:30 a.m.and will take part in a gala fundraiser for Canadian Arrow that evening.

Canadian Arrow Team Leader Geoff Sheerin says he received more than 200 inquiries and applications from over 100 highly qualified individuals from around the world.

Fighter pilots, engineers, and people who are already working for space-related organizations were among the applicants, according to Sheerin, who says they also heard from many everyday people such as teachers, software engineers and a taxi driver.

"It has confirmed for me that there are people in every walk of life who want to travel to space," said Sheerin. "While the people we’ve chosen to fly our X PRIZE flights are more highly qualified, it does tell us there will be many people ready to join us when we begin taking passengers."

The Canadian Arrow is a passenger space rocket that is being built by a London-based team of engineers and designers.  It is one of 20 space vehicles that are registered in a competition for the $10million X PRIZE. The X PRIZE will be awarded to the first team that creates a flight vehicle that can achieve two manned space flights with a 14-day period. Each flight must carry at least one person to minimum altitude of 100 kilometers. 

Four of the six Canadian Arrow astronauts will fly the two X PRIZE flights (two on each) and the other two will be trained as backups.

Date & time: Thursday, June 26th -11:30 a.m.                                        

Location: Four Points Sheraton

1150 Wellington Road South,London

For more information call:

Ann Hutchison   (519) 858-0972

Canadian Arrow Communications

P.O. Box 9029, 1795 Ernest Avenue, London, Ontario, Canada N6E 2V0   

Phone: (519) 659-5852    Fax: (519) 659-8163

www.canadianarrow.com  ----  www.astronaut.ca