Guest: Alan Boyle. Topics: Alan discussed a wide range of topics including HSF, suborbital flights, science, Mars & more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience. Note that there was scattered phone line noise from time to time during our discussion. We welcomed Alan Boyle back to the show for this 1 hour 42 minute discussion on numerous space news items & topics. During our first segment, Alan talked about the "two year rule" which suggests space tourism & suborbital commercial flights are just two years away. Throughout the program Alan kept suggesting that 2014 might be the end of the two year rule! Alan gave us an overview of the spaceflight companies building vehicles. Our next topic was the Yamato Meteorite, a Mars meteorite that may indicate past life on Mars. He compared this to the 1996 meteorite announcement and said that some of the Yamato team members were the same as those addressing the 1996 "discovery" (www.nbcnews.com/#/science/space/tiny-blobs-tunnels-meteorite-revive-deba...). In talking about Mars, I brought up the Viking experiments by Dr. Gil Levin , then a listener emailed in a question about the UK Tom Bower book on Branson, "Behind the Mask." Georgia followed with a question about the forthcoming NASA commercial crew down select, then I asked Alan for his view of SLS. Alan said it definitely had a role to play. Allison called from her car to inquire about private space stations & microgravity issues. In the second segment, we discussed Planet Labs & their recent launch of cubesats from the ISS. Alan also explained how the cubesats were launched from the station, plus since he had seen some of their images, we got a report on image quality. Todd emailed in a additional question about cislunar transportation/lunar settlements. Alan had several questions pertaining to what would actually be done in a lunar settlement. Elon Musk & his Mars plans came up and we spent a few minutes talking about that subject. Alan said the biggest dud story of 2013 in his opinion was Comet Ison. John called from Ft. Worth & I queried him again on SLS but he actually wanted to discuss Mars & present day capabilities. He then talked about the need for advanced propulsion for Mars flights. He said he would back off his SLS support had there been plans for a second generation shuttle, depots or something that would be a real program. He said SLS was a real program & any program was better than no program. Alan then said he was looking forward to 2015 with New Horizons, Dawn, & SpaceShip2. He also mentioned the ESA Rosetta mission, then as the show was ending, he was asked about the Chinese lunar rover. The final question from Sara was about the value & importance of human spaceflight. Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. Follow Alan on www.facebook.com/NBCNewsScience and www.nbcnews.com/id/3033063.