SpaceDev Founder Jim Benson Dies at 63 - October 10 2008

I was reading the Saturday/Sunday, October 18 - 19, 2008, The Wall
Street Journal, and noticed a very nice Remembrance for JIM BENSON 1945
- 2008.

You have probably followed the SpaceDev story and know they made the
thrusters that powered Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne in 2004 when it became
the first private craft to reach space.
http://www.spacedev.com/press_detail.php
http://www.spacedev.com/

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http://www.spacedev.com/press_more_info.php?id=285
Oct 10, 2008 0:00
SpaceDev Founder Jim Benson Dies
POWAY, CA - October 10, 2008 - SpaceDev, Inc. (OTCBB: SPDV) announced
today that SpaceDev Founder and Board Member James Benson, 63, died
peacefully in his home. Benson was diagnosed in 2007 with a glioblastoma
multiforme brain tumor, the cause of his death early this morning.
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When Mr. Benson founded SpaceDev, in 1997, he had hoped to build an
all-inclusive space-exploration company that would put rovers on the
moon and lay claim to asteroids near Earth. That didn't happen, but he
had told The Wall Street Journal in 2007 that there were minerals
waiting to be extracted there that "would probably create the first
trillionaires."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122428279540846067.html?mod=dist_smartbrief
Rocket Man Ran a Proper Business, But Loftiest Plans Were Ill-Starred

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/726/1

Who the vision now has?

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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http://www.space.com/news/081010-jimbenson-obit.html
*SpaceDev Founder Jim Benson Dies at 63 *
*By Tariq Malik
Senior Editor
posted: 10 October 2008
9:25 pm ET

American entrepreneur Jim Benson, founder of the aerospace firm SpaceDev
that helped build the rocket engine that launched the world's first
privately-built manned spaceship into suborbital space, died early
Friday of a brain tumor, the company announced today.

Benson died in his sleep from a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor,
which he was diagnosed with last year, SpaceDev officials said. He was 63.

"Jim was a true visionary
http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=081010-ben
son-portrait-02.jpg&cap=SpaceDev+founder+Jim+Benson.+Credit%3A+SpaceDev."
said Mark Sirangelo, SpaceDev's CEO and Chairman of the Board. "He saw
that space exploration could be more effective if done commercially, and
formed SpaceDev to make that dream become a reality."

Benson founded the Poway, Calif.-based SpaceDev in 1997 after 30 years
working in the computer industry.

snip

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20081011/sc_space/spacedevfounderjimbensondiesat63

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http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=26665
*SpaceDev Founder Jim Benson Dies

**PRESS RELEASE*
*Date Released:* Thursday, October 9, 2008
Source: SpaceDev, Inc. <http://www.spacedev.com/>

SpaceDev, Inc. announced today that SpaceDev Founder and Board Member
James Benson, 63, died peacefully in his home. Benson was diagnosed in
2007 with a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor, the cause of his death
early this morning. Mr. Benson had resigned from an operational role in
SpaceDev in September 2006. He retained a seat on the Board of Directors
of SpaceDev where he had continued to support the Company that he
founded in 1997.

"Jim was a true visionary," said Mark Sirangelo, SpaceDev's CEO and
Chairman of the Board. "He saw that space exploration could be more
effective if done commercially, and formed SpaceDev to make that dream
become a reality. He will be missed by many but his legacy contained in
SpaceDev will continue to forward his vision for the commercialization
of space. On behalf of the employees, board and shareholders of SpaceDev
we would like to express our condolences to the Benson family."

snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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