Peter Diamandis

Peter Diamandis is the brains behind the X Prize Foundation, an organization intent on spurring innovation in the development of private low-cost space travel through competitions like the aviation prizes of the 1920s and 1930s. The foundation’s $10 million Ansari X Prize was won in October of 2004 by SpaceShipOne. The foundation plans to hold annual competitions beginning in 2006 in other space related categories. It also recently announced the WTN X Prize, a series of competitions that will cover all areas of science and technology, the categories of which are still being determined. Diamandis also co-founded the International Space University in France in 1987. In 1998, he co-founded Space Adventures, a company specializing in space tourism packages for the likes of Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth.