In addition, while I'm certain that hotel rooms on the beach are at a premium around the time of launchings, with few discounts, lodging prices in this area are unlikely to be "astronomical" at any time, particularly in comparison to Orlando or other large metropolitan areas.
Ted Molczan, a hobbyist who has tracked hundreds of satellite launchings from his home in Toronto using a simple computer program, received a tip on the date and launching time for Shenzhou 5 over the weekend.
The statement said officials would draft a timeline for launchings, including manned missions.
Worse for the industry, technology has extended the life of a typical satellite to 18 years or more, from 12 to 15 years in the 1980's and 90's, lengthening the time between launchings.
That shut Lockheed out of the market for launchings over the North and South Poles, because it would have been too dangerous to launch satellites into polar orbits from Lockheed's base at Cape Canaveral, Mr. Thompson said.
He said that when seasoned project managers heard of the new, narrow windows for launchings, their first reaction was to start planning to take advantage of the restricted opportunities.
In particular, a quid pro quo of shutting down the missile program in exchange for launchings of North Korean satellites by foreign governments will be discussed further, a senior official said.
The Sept. 4 hearing is expected to explore schedule pressures and NASA's contracts with the private companies that do much of the work on the space program, which offer bonuses for on-time launchings.
The NASA contracts, however, include bonuses for on-time launchings, a factor that some outside safety critics say raises the possibility of conflict of interest for contractors who must decide which potential problems to bring to NASA's attention.
But Congress would not agree to finance the programs until the space station was paid for, in 2004, Mr. Bush's re-election year -- a politically opportune time for announcing a new space program to try to capture the imagination of Americans who have come to see rocket launchings as routine.
