Capture the Flag - in Space

A flag is waiting in the ISS for whoever can get there first. [Link]

The space-taxi companies that make it will be bidding for NASA’s two flights to and from the station each year. NASA will be buying seats — four on each flight. Not a large order for a new business. But there’s always the high-priced space tourist with more money than they can spend. For 10 years, millionaires have been buying rides on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, and they could serve as a clientele for the new U.S. spaceships as well.

And don’t forget the cargo. The private taxis can haul payloads as well as people.

In this space race, money won't be the only prize. The most meaningful prize awaiting the first crew to cross the finish line is the flag, a very special flag. The last space shuttle crew left the prize behind on the space station last month. It's a U.S. flag that flew first on the space shuttle’s maiden voyage, on April 12, 1981. It’s hanging there, waiting.