In a nutshell.

• Position: Tech Startup of the Month - Beyond-Earth - Brief Article

Space tourism is too expensive to realistically claim a very big market, said Latrell. Beyond-Earth's contrary strategy is to sell people space on rockets to launch a bit of their DNA or a photograph into space and bring it back--complete with access to a webcast of the launch and a certificate of authenticity that the personal effect had in fact been 300,000 feet above the surface of the Earth.

"You can't go to space, but you can send a little bit of you," said Latrell.

"In the end, you own something that has been in space, something that you picked," added T' Chris Gardner, the company's director of marketing and educational outreach. The cost: $60 for hair or other DNA sample, or $149 for other items. "We've pre-sold quite a few of them," said Latrell.

In 2003, the company tested its first rocket, from a launch facility in Frederick, Okla. The solid-fuel engine worked perfectly, lifting the half-scale prototype to 8,000 feet, but the parachute system failed--leading to the crumpled souvenir hanging in the rafters at the hangar at Meadow Lake Airport in Colorado Springs...