Space Adventures announced today that Charles Simonyi, the company’s most recent client, has won medical approval from Russian authorities for a future Soyuz flight. Space Adventures did not disclose, though, when Simonyi might fly, saying only that “More details regarding Dr. Simonyi’s scheduled launch date, commencement of training and specific mission objectives will be announced in the coming months.”

So will Simonyi be the next orbital tourist after Daisuke “Dice-K” Enomoto, who is scheduled to fly to the ISS next month? Or will it be Enomoto’s backup, Anousheh Ansari? SPACE.com profiles Ansari today, describing a person who wants to fly into space herself, even if that means waiting until 2008. The logjam is based in part on Russian plans to fly a Malaysian guest cosmonaut to the ISS next year, but the report also claims that Simonyi will fly to the ISS next spring, something that is less certain now than when Simonyi’s contract was first announced this spring. She’s not picky about how she gets to space, either: her company, Prodea (which is also backed by her husband and brother-in-law), is funding development of the Explorer suborbital vehicle that Space Adventures plans to operate, while she also has “seats reserved” on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.

Wired News’ Jason Silverman pays a visit to Spaceport America, whose limited infrastructure “looks more John Ford than Jetsons.” Much of the article is about preparations for the New Mexico spaceport’s first launch. a UP Aerospace, including the installation of a hydraulic launch rail nicknamed “T Rex”. Things didn’t go smoothly, but after a little effort everything fit in place:

Finally, perhaps noting the approach of dinnertime, the crane operator hopped down from his cab and, using a sledgehammer and pieces of wood, began knocking the bolts a few sixteenths of an inch this way or that. Not exactly rocket science, but by nightfall, T Rex was securely bolted to the Spaceport’s launch pad.

Somehow I don’t think you’d be able to get away with that at the Cape or Vandenberg.

Some more news on Virgin Galactic’s visit to RAF Lossiemouth, which is being scouted as a potential Scottish base for the space tourism company:

• Press Association: Branson wants Scotland to rival the Kennedy Space Center: a spokesman for the air base said both sides are interested in the proposal, and that informal discussions between air base officials and Virgin date back three months.
• The Herald: How Lossiemouth is joining space race: The air base is the only location in the UK that Virgin is considering. Will Whitehorn said that the first 200 tickets have been sold at $200,000 each; those flights will take place from Mojave.
• AFP: Space travel will take off in five years, travel boss says: Whitehorn expects SS2 flights to start from Lossiemouth, if approved, in 2011.
• Glasgow Daily Record: Lossiemouth.. We Have Lift Off: Whitehorn said everything is “right on schedule”, while an unnamed RAF spokesman said “Everyone seems to be singing from the same hymn sheet, which is brilliant.”