"Suddenly space travel -- led by remarkable private industry efforts -- is becoming a hot topic again," says Mark Mayfield, editor-in-chief of LAUNCH and president of MM Publishing Inc., the company producing the new magazine. "The response to our first issue was overwhelming and it's clear that we are filling a void for readers and advertisers."

A lifelong space enthusiast who covered five Space Shuttle flights as a reporter in the 1980s, Mayfield also served as editor-in-chief of three home design-related magazines: House Beautiful, Traditional Home and Southern Accents magazines.

"I remember the Space Age as a kid, when our heroes were astronauts who risked their lives for exploration," says Mayfield. "It's different today, but there are actually so many more opportunities for private citizens to participate in space programs. Back in the 1960s, it was just NASA. Today, there are hundreds of private companies getting involved in space exploration. And there are thousands of people, many of them kids, who are flying model rockets as their way of learning and participating."

LAUNCH Magazine will be published bimonthly and is available by subscription for $29.95 annually, and soon on newsstands nationwide. Subscriptions and single issue copies can also be ordered at the magazine's website: launchmagonline.com. Joining Mayfield as LAUNCH's managing editor and partner at MM Publishing is Deborah Martin. Martin was previously managing editor at House Beautiful Magazine.

According to Mayfield, "With NASA's budgets slashed, billionaires like Paul G. Allen, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos are getting into the space business. They are using their personal fortunes to expand space exploration and the public is once again focusing on space travel. We haven't seen this level of excitement since the late 1960s."

Darrell D. Mobley editor of Rocketry Planet.com, one of the industry's news portals, calls LAUNCH Magazine "beautiful and interesting" and said, "it's better than anything else I've seen in the hobby ... it just doesn't seem real. I just couldn't get enough."

Additional accolades about LAUNCH are coming in from executives throughout the industry.

"LAUNCH Magazine is great! And I'm not usually so easily impressed," said Carl McLawhorn, president of Semroc Astronautics, a leading model rocketry kit manufacturer. "If you have not subscribed yet, you better hurry."

John Dyer, president of Red River Rocketry, a Texas-based hobby rocketry company said, "This is a quality magazine that is sure to be an instant hit."

With a retro style design, LAUNCH will follow hobby rocketry in all civilian forms including low power, mid power, high power and experimental. In addition, it will cover the growing private, consumer space efforts at places like New Mexico's Spaceport America, as well as NASA's new exploration initiatives. "LAUNCH is uniquely positioned to cover this new Space Age," says Mayfield. "It's time for a magazine as good as exciting as the science it is covering."

Related Links
LAUNCH Magazine
All about Space Tourism and more at Space-Travel.Com