Last October, when ANN Editor-in-Chief, Jim Campbell, was announced as one of the four founding pilots of the Rocket Racing League, he remarked that he often compared X Prize Founder Peter Diamandis to the pivotal character in Robert Heinlein's (pictured right) amazing story of a fictional space entrepeneur, in "The Man Who Sold The Moon." Apparently, Jim is not the only to make such a connection....

Trustees of the Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust have awarded the first-ever Heinlein Prize to Dr. Peter H. Diamandis. The Heinlein Prize was founded to reward individuals for making practical contributions to the commercialization of space. Dr. Diamandis will be honored at a dinner and award ceremony on July 7, 2006 at the St. Regis Hotel in Houston, Texas and receive $500,000, a gold Heinlein Medallion, the Lady Vivamus Sword (as described in Heinlein's book Glory Road ) and a Laureate's Diploma.

"Dr. Diamandis' accomplishments have started space settlement and commerce," explains Art Dula, Trustee and literary executor of the Heinlein Estate.

"He has catalyzed space activities by hundreds of people and organizations all over the Earth who are creating a proud and prosperous future for humanity."

Diamandis is a pioneer and leader in the commercial space arena. In the past 25 years he started more than a dozen leading non-profit and for-profit space organizations. Diamandis is best known as Founder and Chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation, whose $10 million Ansari X PRIZE sparked the birth of the personal spaceflight industry.

Robert Heinlein published over one hundred novels, short stories, and articles. He won six Hugo awards and has had his work adapted into four movies and five television series. The most prevalent theme underlying all his works is the practical benefit of man's activities in space. The majority of his works were published long before Neil Armstrong first set foot upon the Moon, writing against prevailing opinions of the time that declared such an endeavor as both impractical and impossible.

Many of those who grew up reading his stories are scattered throughout the aerospace industry worldwide and have gone on to make significant progress towards man's expansion into space. Many testify today that they were first inspired by Robert Heinlein and his writings to pursue careers connected to space.

"There is no question that Heinlein's work has inspired and driven me during my career," said Dr. Diamandis. "His novella, The Man who Sold the Moon, is my favorite story. In fact, I flew it as personal cargo aboard SpaceShipOne during the winning Ansari X PRIZE flight on October 4 th, 2004."

Diamandis' contributions to the commercialization of space began while studying molecular genetics as an undergraduate at MIT. In 1980 he founded the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), which has since become the largest student-based space organization in the world. He went on to earn a Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from MIT, concurrently with a Medical Degree from Harvard.

Another major accomplishment was the founding of the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg, France. Since 1987 the ISU has provided graduate-level training to over 2,200 future leaders of the emerging global space community from 87 countries. The ISU is the embodiment of Dr. Diamandis' vision of a peaceful, prosperous and boundless future through the study, exploration and development of space for the benefit of all humanity.

"Initially I wanted to be a NASA Astronaut and that dream drove me to collect numerous degrees, private pilot and scuba ratings," said Diamandis (pictured below, aboard Zero-G Corporation's G-Force One).

"But along the way I committed myself to traveling to space privately. I believe opening the space frontier is critical for the future of humanity, and making space a viable commercial endeavor is paramount to opening this frontier. My philosophy has been that the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself."

FMI: www.heinleinprize.com, www.xprize.org