The typical Viennese coffee house -- an elegant institution with high ceilings, marble-top tables and a stack of newspapers to make one linger over an impeccable black brew with a customary glass of water -- may be more famously known than its Ukrainian cousin, but to trace back the origin of the communal coffee space, you have to go to Lviv, a Medieval city in western Ukraine.

BBC: Tracing the coffee house revolution to its Ukrainian roots

Virgin's Richard Branson has started Virgin Galactic in an attempt to sell suborbital trips to ordinary citizens, and Amazon.com 's JeffBezosJeff Bezos has started a company called Blue Origin to create a private suborbital space vehicle.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has always been incredibly secretive about his own space investment, a company called Blue Origin based near Seattle but with a rocket launch facility out in the wilds of west Texas.

FORBES: Billionaire Space Race: 2012 Will Be The Year Private Space Transport Takes Off

Blue Origin is one of several start-ups aiming to open up space travel to paying customers.

ECONOMIST: Brain scan

Blue Origin has received millions of dollars in NASA funding to develop its commercial space travel program, including a launch escape system.

FORBES: Billionaire Space Race: 2012 Will Be The Year Private Space Transport Takes Off

His spaceship company, Blue Origin, is working on a vehicle that would transport astronauts to the international space station.

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