One of them is Adam Bruckner, Chairman of the University of Washington's aeronautics and astronautics engineering program.

NPR: Tech Tycoons' Dream: My Own Private Spaceship

Formerly a Staff Engineer at Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, he holds a Masters degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Ph.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Search

The manager rang up the sale, and I chatted with two buyers who were students at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

NEWYORKER: Green Giant

"Nuclear-propelled rockets should only be used well away from the Earth, " says Charles Oman, a senior research engineer at MIT's department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

FORBES: Houston, We Have Problems

"The rates of return just aren't there, and it could take another 100 years before they are, " says Charles Oman, a senior research engineer at MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

FORBES: Galactic Gold Mine?

"There are loads of ideas floating around, and they're serious about implementing them, " said UK space scientist John Zarnecki, who is a visiting professor at Beihang University, the new name for the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

BBC: Rocket launches Chinese space lab