Atlanta, For Immediate Release: Although mankind is now in its fifth decade of successful space exploration, NASA’s 1969 moon mission still ranks as the world’s top space project to date, says noted futurist McKinley Conway in his new book, Global Super Projects: Mega Ventures That Are Shaping Our Future.

The landmark moon landing, however, is only one of a host of mega-endeavors that Conway has selected as the most significant in recent history. In addition to the race for outer space, the author of several dozen other books has chosen the top projects in 19 other important categories, ranging from environmental and conservation undertakings, to new airports, highways and other infrastructure elements. (To access all of Conway’s selections, as well as the Conway Global Super Projects Registry, look for the online version of the entire book that will be available by Jan. 16, 2006, at www.sitenet.com/books/superprojects. To go directly to the Conway Global Super Projects Registry, go to www.sitenet.com/books/superprojects/registry.)

Conway, a pioneer in the economic development field, made his selections from what he calls “Super Projects, the billion-dollar babies that are changing the face of world development.” A Super Project, he explains, “represents a cost of US$1 billion or more and/or a represents a technological breakthrough of worldwide significance.” Conway’s Atlanta-based research firm, Conway Data Inc., maintains a global Super Project database that now includes some 2,000 ventures.

Just how did Conway, who has studied major global projects for decades and brought together leading Super Project experts in a series of historic worldwide conferences, choose the crème de la crème? The winners, he explains, “were those deemed to be most significant in improving the quality of life for large numbers of the world’s citizens.”

Here, for example, is how the author explained his choice for the world’s most significant space project:

“NASA’s moon landing. The space program is the dominant element in our probe of the frontiers of science. It benefits all of the world’s people. By far the most dramatic space project to date was the moon landing. Unmanned landings to Mars have brought some attention. Each such mission is a billion-dollar project; however, the average Earth citizen sees little except photos of space vehicles and launch platforms on the ground. Most of the world’s citizens are not aware of the ways in which their future may be impacted by the exploration of other planets and the images brought back by the Hubble telescope.

“While applauding these great public projects, we must give a salute to engineer Bert Rutan’s privately financed space vehicle that flew in 2005,” Conway writes. “It promises to take off from ordinary airports and carry ordinary people into space. Although the project cost a lot less than $1 billion, it was a super accomplishment .

“The key action centers are the NASA facilities at Cape Canaveral in Florida and Vandenberg in California; the Russian complex at Baikanour in what is now Kazakhstan; and the French Ariane base near the equator in Kourou, Guiana, in South America. A number of spaceports have been proposed for sites around the world near the equator but none have been built. Also, Boeing has joined with a Russian entity to develop a floating launch base to be stationed in the Pacific.”