There’s a nice story over at MSNBC. Hey, NASA, you want to get young people excited about space again? Here’s how.

Krieff said he was amazed at how Bass? space dreams have captured the imagination of the younger generation.

?Kids have been trying to send us checks ? which we don?t accept ? thinking that they can actually help pay for this flight,? he said. ?For 10-year-old kids … I just couldn?t get over that. If the space gods out there are listening, the kids out there are just totally into this. … I?ve been in business 20 years and I?ve never seen anything like it.?

Also, Lori Garver must be really serious. The story also says that she actually had her gall bladder removed last month, because ultrasound showed a small stone, and the Russians wouldn’t allow her to fly with it. I want to go to space pretty badly, but I don’t think I’d do that, unless it had to happen anyway.

[Update at 9:03 AM PDT]

And Mark Shuttleworth says he had a great time and would do it again if he could.