Eric C. Anderson

Eric Anderson is the president and CEO of Space Adventures, the leading space tourism company and the only company in the world to have sent self-funded tourists into space. Anderson is a both a businessman, and aerospace engineer; and one of the leading entrepreneurs in the space tourism industry. He co-founded Space Adventures in 1997 with several leading visionaries from the aerospace, adventure travel and entertainment industries and has led the company to several years of profitable success, selling more than $120M in space tourist flights; including the only tourists to fly to the International Space Station; Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Gregory Olsen, Anousheh Ansari, and Charles Simonyi. Anderson’s innovation proved there is a market for space tourism and created an industry that could generate revenues of over $1 billion a year within the next 20 years. He has developed and financed over $500 million (USD) in new projects for Space Adventures, including two global spaceports and the first private voyage to the moon, set to launch in 2011. Under Anderson’s direction, Space Adventures remains the leader of the space tourism industry through the continuous launches of commercial passengers to the International Space Station, the recent offering of a circumlunar mission and through future suborbital spaceflights.

Background

Anderson was the principal and co-founder of Starport.com, later sold to SPACE.com in 2000. Anderson was also lead engineer and business development lead for aerospace software firm Analytical Graphics, Inc., and has held various consulting and research positions with NASA. In 2005, Anderson co-authored the “Space Tourist’s Handbook,” published with bestselling author Joshua Piven. On April 16, 2007, Anderson's stepdaughter, Kristina Anderson, was wounded in the Virginia Tech massacre [cite web|url=http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2007-10-07-space-adventures-anderson_N.html |title=Executive Suite: He's over the moon about space tourism| accessdate=2007-10-07 |last =De Lollis |first=Barbara |work=USA Today ] .

Education

Anderson graduated magna cum laude from the University of Virginia with a degree in aerospace engineering, and was selected by USA Today as one of the nation’s Top 40 university graduates of 1996. In 1992, he graduated from Columbine High School and is originally from Littleton, Colorado.

Organizations

*Standard & Poor’s Society of Industry Leaders
*World Travel and Tourism Council
*Young Presidents' Organization
*Board member of the X Prize Foundation
*Board member of Zero Gravity Corporation

References

* [http://www.spaceadventures.com Space Adventures' website]
* [http://www.forbes.com/business/forbes/2005/0509/058.html Article on Forbes.com]