A4
Politics & The Nation BY MARC KAUFMAN If you have the millions to
spare and the derring-do, your chances of being strapped in and launched to the international space station improvedmarkedly Wednesday when two major companies agreed to join forces tomake space travel significantly more available. The Boeing aerospace compa-
ny announced anagreementwith Space Adventures Ltd. of Vienna, Va., to establish a space taxi system that will launch its pas- sengers into low Earth orbit. Boeing has been developing a
capsule and has years of experi- ence building rockets, while Space Adventures has organized seven trips to the space station
EZ SU
KLMNO Boeing, partner plan space taxi for tourists by 2016
aboard the Russian spacecraft Soyuz. The obstacles remain high, but the two companies say they think they can begin their service by the end of 2015. The agreement “creates anoth-
er opportunity to jump-start the human migration to space,” said Brewster Shaw, Boeing’s vice president and general manager of space exploration. The goal of his division, he said, is to create a “Boeing commercial aircraft of human space commerce.” It’s all part of the still-fragile
blossoming of a commercial rocket and spacecraft industry that could transform the way people think about and use the space beyond Earth. Boeing is also in the running
to provide low-cost commercial transport to the space station for
NASA astronauts — an initiative pushed by President Obama but facing opposition in Congress, especially in theHouse. The Boeing-Space Adventures
announcementwasmade as Sen- ate and House staffers are work- ing—with what participants say is limited success—to craft a bill that would provide funds to en- courage private space companies to expand their efforts. The com- mercial space initiative has be- come embroiled in resistance to Obama’s desire to kill the Ares I rocket program, the Bush admin- istration’s behind-schedule and overbudget effort to provide transport to the space station. SpaceAdventures has sent sev-
en private space travelers to the space station on Soyuz capsules, most recently at a cost of about
Four FBI employees accused of using steroids BY SPENCER S. HSU Three Washington area FBI
agents and an analyst were charged Wednesday with cover- ing up their use of steroids and human growth hormone, offi- cials said Wednesday. The un- usual federal
comes as U.S. authorities are bringing high-profile prosecu- tions against baseball stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. The special agents and investi-
gative analyst, all living inNorth- ern Virginia, made false state- ments by omitting mention of their use of the performance-en- hancing drugs as part of required disclosures in annual fitness re- ports to the bureau, the FBI alleges. The charge carries a maximumpenalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both. Clemens, a seven-time Cy
Young award-winning pitcher, was indicted last month by a federal grand jury inWashington on charges he perjured himself before a congressional commit- tee when he denied using ste- roids or HGH. Career home-run leader Bonds faces federal perju- ry charges in San Francisco for allegedly lying to a federal grand jury when he said he never used performance-enhancing drugs. In the FBI case, according to
investigation
court papers, Katia Litton, 42, a special agent with the Washing- ton Field Office since 2003 and a former bodybuilder, used ste- roids and HGH along with her husband,Matthew Litton, 39, an agent since 2001whose FBImed- ical file describes himas “5’8’ and 190 lbs.” and “muscular.” Along with Special Agent
James Barnett, 42, also with the Washington office, and counter- terrorism analyst Ali Sawan, 45, the four allegedly met with doc- tors and received fake diagnoses for conditions including pitu- itary dwarfism beginning in 2006. They allegedly received pre-
scriptions for medications in- cluding anabolic steroids and HGH. The medications are used in bodybuilding to increasemus- cle mass and reduce recovery time after workouts. The four FBI employees ap-
peared one after the other Wednesday afternoon beforeU.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson as charges were un- sealed in U.S. District Court in Washington. The defendants were not asked to make any statements, and attorneys for Sawan and Matthew Litton de- clined to comment afterward. Attorneys for Barnett and Katia Litton left the courtroom before they could be questioned.
The Littons, of McLean; Bar-
nett, of Alexandria; and Sawan, of Sterling, were required to submit to a drug test, give up their passports and any weap- ons, and stay within 50 miles of their homes. They were released on their own recognizance pend- ing an Oct. 5 hearing. It was not immediately clear
what prompted the investiga- tion. However, an arrest affidavit
filed in the cases of the Littons and Sawan by Special Agent J. Brian Burnett of the Justice De- partment’s Office of Inspector General, notes that each worked with a part-time emergency roomdoctor. In a side practice, the doctor
advertised “hormone modula- tion therapy” to address such conditions as “adult onset growth hormone deficiency” and “adult onset growth testosterone deficiency,” Burnett wrote. Burnett said that the doctor
wrote more than 5,200 prescrip- tions for anabolic steroids be- tween September 2005 and Janu- ary and that a nearby laboratory drew blood from 307 of the doctor’s patients, all of whom were given a diagnosis of pitu- itary dwarfism or other recog- nized growth hormone deficien- cies.
hsu@washpost.com HO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta is the first livingMedal ofHonor recipient for service in Iraq and Afghanistan.He says it’s a “huge honor” but also brings back memories of those he can’t share it with.
Medal of Honor is bittersweet, soldier says BY DANA HEDGPETH The first living service mem-
ber to receive theMedal ofHonor for action during any war since Vietnam described the experi- enceWednesday as bittersweet. “It is such a huge, huge honor,”
said Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, 25, of Hiawatha, Iowa. “It’s emotional, and all of this is great. But it does bring back a lot of memories of all the people I’d like to share this with who I can’t. They gave everything for this country, and because of that, we’re not going to be able to share thismoment together.” Giunta, with his wife, Jenny,
seated beside him, spoke from his current post in Vicenza, Italy, via a live satellite videoconfer- ence at the Pentagon.Giuntawas
chosen to receive the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary val- or during amission in one of the most dangerous areas of rugged eastern Afghanistan in 2007. Giunta, who serves in the Battle Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Air- borne Brigade Combat Team, will receive his medal at aWhite House ceremony, which has not been scheduled. During the videoconference,
Giunta told of the Oct. 25, 2007, attack, when insurgents am- bushed him and his small rifle team of airborne soldiers. He said his platoon was watching over another unit from a ridge- line as it entered a village. Short- ly after leaving the area, he said, they were attacked along a trail. Giuntawas knocked flat by the
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gunfire, but a well-aimed round failed to penetrate his armored chest plate. As the paratroopers scrambled for cover, Giunta re- acted instinctively. He ran straight into the heart of the ambush to aid, one by one, three wounded soldiers who had been separated fromthe others. Two paratroopers died in the
attack, and most of the others suffered serious wounds. But the tollwould have been far higher if not for Giunta’s bravery, accord- ing to members of his unit and Army officials. Giunta spoke humbly of his
actions, saying at the videocon- ference, “I didn’t run up to do
anything heroic.” He said he thought at the time, “Everybody’s been shot at, and I might as well run forward.” “This was a situation we were
put into,” he said. “By no means did I do anything that others wouldn’t have done.” Giunta enlisted in the Army in
November 2003 and has de- ployed twice to Afghanistan. He and his wife said they hoped his award will bring more recogni- tion for those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and the sacrifices they make in being away from their families and in harm’s way. According to Pentagon statis-
tics, six service members have received Medals of Honor, all posthumously, for operations since September 2001. Giunta said he has kept in
touch with the father of Sgt. Joshua Brennan, whom Giunta rescued from the Taliban but who died of injuries a day after the attack. He said Brennan’s father had
“expressed his gratitude to me,” but he noted that it was “hard to stomach.” “I’m glad we could bring Josh
back, but I wish it were under different circumstances,” he said. Asked if he thought he was a
hero, Giunta said, “If I’m a hero, than every man who stands around me, every woman in the military, every person who de- fends this country is.”
hedgpethd@washpost.com
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$40million for one seat. Company Chairman Eric
Anderson said the linkup with Boeing will not make future space travel cheap but could make itmuch cheaper. “With our customer experi-
ence and Boeing’s heritage in human spaceflight, our goal is not only to benefit the individu- alswho fly to space,” he said. It’s “also to help make the resources of space available to the commer- cial sector by bringing the value fromspace back to Earth.” The joint project envisions
launches from the Kennedy Space Center and landings at the White Sands base inNewMexico. Boeing is one of seven compa-
nies selected by NASA in Febru- ary to research and potentially develop rocket service to the
space station for NASA crews. The companywon an $18million federal Space Act agreement to begin the work, which Boeing officials said is now two-thirds complete. John Elbon, the company’s
program manager for commer- cial crewtransportation, said at a news conferenceWednesday that the effort to launch a space taxi by 2015 is intimately linked to NASA’s commercial crew trans- port program. If Congress approves money
to spur the effort and Boeing wins a future contract to carry astronauts into space,Elbonsaid, thenthe 2015 date is possible.But if Congress postpones the com- mercial space program or elimi- nates it, then the company’s ef- forts will be delayed or scrapped.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2010 6
on
washingtonpost.com A new step for Boeing
To see photographs and renderings of Boeing’s
commercial spacecraft, go to
washingtonpost.com/photo.
Boeing’s partner in the com-
mercial crew project is Bigelow Aerospace, a Nevada company building commercial labs (or ho- tels, as some call them) that it wants to send into orbit for future visitors. Although these projects are for
the future, NASA has already entered into contracts with two private companies to supply car- go to the space station. SpaceXof California and Orbital Sciences Corp. of Virginia won the con- tracts in late 2008, and SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket in June.
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