Contrary to the absurd prejudice of certain government space agencies who regard evolution as having come to an end with the present-day state, military and corporate monopoly of space travel, a new force is active in human space exploration, a force so subtle that these government space agencies will be incompetent to contain and stifle it. For those who still don't know it, the Association of Autonomous Astronauts does not exist except for those who are travelling with it. Or to go in another direction, the Association of Autonomous Astronauts' Five Year Plan for establishing a world-wide network of local, community-based groups dedicated to building their own space ships is well on target. The evolution of this force is rendered daily more certain, and is stimulated by the growing dissatisfaction of individuals all over the world, with the failure of government controlled space exploration programs.

As a Press Officer for the Association of Autonomous Astronauts I often get asked by media hacks if the AAA is all a big joke. These jibes are often accompanied with nudges and winks, as if the cretinous journalist has let it be known that he is also in on something. When I explain the seriousness of the AAA's plans for local, community based space exploration, strange expressions transfix the faces of these pathetic creatures. They appear to regard me with a mixture of suspicion and incomprehension, surely indicative of the extent to which their notions of space exploration have been fully conditioned by the dictates of government space agencies. These fools fail to question current attitudes to space travel. They are doomed to the same inertia and ultimate irrelevancy in evolutionary terms that will also be the fate of those institutions that seek to maintain the status-quo regarding the construction of space ships.

Whose space is it anyway? Current attitudes to space travel will be entirely reinvented. The AAA regards this as part of an evolutionary process that is already happening. If this process requires the total transformation of society then the AAA commands to make it so. There is no way out of the present crisis of space exploration except one which is fundamentally evolutionary. The AAA knows where it is going. The AAA knows that the power is in all of us to make the future happen. The AAA is making it happen, and it is making us happen. The AAA recognises that space exploration is something to be realised, not something that must be seized. The AAA is not that interested in present-day forms of space travel (forms conditioned by the state, military and corporate monopoly of space exploration) - the AAA is more concerned with possibilities.

It has been one year since the launch of the AAA as an independent, community-based space exploration program. A year in which the marketing of the Internet as the latest technology to save us all has reached new heights of hype. What vested interests are really being served by the cyber-elites erecting careers for themselves whilst staking out their claims on the so-called 'new frontiers' of the net? It's no coincidence that the technology of the Internet was originally designed by the US military, the same military that shares in the current monopoly of space exploration. But technology can be liberated. By emphasising the power of anonymity and collectivity the AAA outflanks the conventional forms of space exploration. There is no limit to our space travel. The AAA will never make space exploration the latest trend for the consumers of style magazines. The evolution is happening, and if you're aware of it you're already involved. Engage - if not, sleep on-line.

What new perspectives are available to an independent, community based space exploration program? Autonomous Astronauts create social change through a continuous evolt based on their own selfish desires for adventure. What else could bring these pioneers together? Each human is in their own way an entire universe of thought and being - so how could any Autonomous Astronaut possibly endorse government space exploration programs which are also connected, by their military associations, to the wilful destruction of entire universes? In zero-gravity the present day capitalist economic framework will be transcended, as the technology required to sustain life in space will also be harnessed to guarantee a life of endless pleasure and zero-work (work in the sense of capitalist wage slavery). Autonomous Astronauts construct their own continuous games, which they alone have chosen to play, whilst zero- gravity will dissolve the competitive urges that are so discouraging to projects based on planet earth.

The AAA's first year has seen many encouraging signs. New groups have been formed in England, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy. There is also promising activity from Autonomous Astronauts throughout Europe and the USA. In January 1996 the members of various AAA branches collaborated with Carlton TV on a 15 minute recruitment video that was transmitted on national TV as part of the 'Shift' series. And whilst South London AAA were still compiling the data on their Dreamtime Mission that took place over the winter solstice, on February 2nd Steve Bennett launched his Starchaser II rocket over the Northumberland moors. Despite his corporate sponsorship by the Tate and Lyle sugar company, we welcome this example of independent space exploration and would encourage Mr. Bennet to align himself with the AAA's activities.