Walter C. Anderson (born 1953) is an American entrepreneur, investor, and advocate for commercial space travel. He began his career in telecommunications and founded several companies including Mid-Atlantic Telecom in 1984 and Esprit Telecom in 1992, which were acquired by Frontier Communications and Global TeleSystems Group, respectively. He co-founded the International Space University and provided financial support for the Space Frontier Foundation during its creation. Anderson also invested in a number of space ventures including Rotary Rocket, a company that attempted to develop a reusable, single-stage launch vehicle with the aid of helicopter rotors. He founded MirCorp, an unsuccessful venture to privatize the Mir space station, and Orbital Recovery Corporation, a company developing technology to capture and repair telecommunication satellites. In the mid 2000s, Anderson pled guilty to charges of tax evasion and was sentenced to nine years in prison. After his release in 2012, he founded Avealto a company developing a fleet of high-altitude platforms. Early life Walter C. Anderson was born Walter Anderson Crump in 1953. He grew up in Washington, D.C. Career Anderson began his career in the telecommunications industry at MCI Communications in 1979. He founded Mid-Atlantic Telecom in 1984. Mid-Atlantic Telecom was a long-distance telephone service carrier. The company was the first to combine telephone and voicemail services. Anderson served as president and chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Telecom until the early 1990s when the company was acquired by Rochester Telephone Corporation (now Frontier Communications). In 1988, Anderson co-founded the International Space University as an early investor. He provided financial support for the Space Frontier Foundation during its creation in 1991. The following year, he founded Esprit Telecom based in London, taking advantage of early telecom deregulation in the U.K. Anderson served as chairman of the company until November 1998. The following month, Global TeleSystems Group, a US publicly traded company, acquired Esprit for nearly $1 billion. Anderson was also a major shareholder of Telco Communications Group before its acquisition by Excel Communications for $1.2 billion. In the mid to late 1990s, Anderson was an early investor in Erol's Internet, which expanded into one of the largest dial-up ISPs. Erol's was acquired by RCN Corporation in 1998, netting Anderson stock in RCN worth $25 million. The same year, Anderson became chairman of Worldxchange Communications. He served in the position until December 2000 when the company was sold to World Access. He also served as chairman of