The Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported today that officials with RSC Energia say the company is ready to double the production of Soyuz spacecraft. The increased production is necessary, the article states, in order to support six-person crews on the International Space Station. What makes this report interesting, though, is how Energia plans to pay for the increased production: through unspecified foreign investment, with the endorsement of the Russian space agency Roskosmos (which effectively controls Energia.) According to a Roskosmos official, “foreign investors were seeking reserved seats on Russian Soyuz craft in exchange for their investment.” Who these foreign investors are, and what they plan to do with those seats, may determine if there are more opportunities for orbital space tourists in the future, either through Space Adventures or another company.

In the last several weeks I have heard from a few people who have claimed that hotel rooms in Las Cruces were already tight for October’s X Prize Cup: according to one person I talked with at the ISDC earlier this month, all the hotel rooms in Las Cruces were already booked for the weekend. That’s not all that surprising: there are not that many hotels in Las Cruces, and they were filled up weeks in advance of last year’s event. Many people, myself included, ended up staying in El Paso, about 50 kilometers to the south.

But are all the rooms in Las Cruces already booked, more than five months in advance? Last night I checked room availability using Orbitz for a four-night span (October 18-22), which would encompass both the Cup itself (October 20-21), and a conference immediately preceding it. It turns out that while a few hotels are sold out, including the Hilton, many others have plenty of rooms available, and at affordable prices. So there’s no need to panic about hotel availability just yet, although if you’re even thinking about attending it wouldn’t hurt to get your rooms sooner rather than later. And in the worst case scenario, El Paso is not that far away…

SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Space Adventures vice president Chris Faranetta discussed space tourism and the future of commercial space ventures during talks Tuesday at the “Future in Review” conference in San Diego, CNET News.com reports. There’s not much news in this report, other than a comment by Faranetta that Space Adventures hopes to sign up two passengers for its proposed circumlunar flight by 2008.