The Lockheed Martin team is committed to providing at least 20% of the equity capital to the VentureStar project, Peter Teets, president and chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin points out. In an article (Flight International, 2-8 June), it was incorrectly stated that Lockheed Martin will not invest in the project. Lockheed Martin believes that loan guarantees, not direct government loans, are necessary if it is to attract the necessary additional private funds to complete the financing of the project. In addition, Lockheed Martin has not considered using strap-on boosters for the VentureStar, says Teets.

after a flight lasting for over 400 days. Poliakov will retain the record for the longest single flight, lasting 438 days. Another cosmonaut who has beaten the 600 days mark is Anatoli Solovyov, on five missions. The USA's Shannon Lucid has 223 days' experience on five flights, while Germany's Thomas Reiter, with 179 days on one flight, is the non-Russian, non-US record holder.

Source: Flight International