Today’s Wall Street Journal features a discussion on space tourism safety issues between Patti Grace Smith, the associate administrator for commercial space transportation at the FAA; and Peter Diamandis, chairman of the X Prize Foundation. (This is one of WSJ.com’s free features today, so no subscription should be required to read it.) It should be little surprise for people who have been following this topic that the two are essentially in total agreement on the issue: there is some risk to passengers, but that the safety of the uninvolved public is paramount. It is a good summary of the thinking on the topic, and Diamandis makes some interesting comments towards the end on economics and the need for advanced technology for “airplane-like ‘care-free’ transport in space”.

SPACE.com reports that the stepdaughter of Space Adventures CEO Eric Anderson was among those injured at Virginia Tech Monday in the shootings that killed more than 30 people. Kristina Heeger is in stable condition and doing well, a company spokesman said.