A new Letter from the Chairman on the Roberts Space Industries website celebrates the news that Star Citizen's crowdfunding effort has now attracted more than one million contributors, or Citizens as they are called within their community (thanks Kxmode). There's a new Incoming Transmission on Vimeo from Gary Oldman to celebrate the news, word from Chairman Roberts on the latest funding milestone for the space exploration and combat game. This includes the announcement that they are opening up alpha access to more backers and are eliminating future obstacles to participation:

In honor of our newest Citizen (really, our thousands of new Citizens!) we would like to give something back to the entire community for all your incredible support. Starting today, we are eliminating ‘Alpha Access’ and the $5 module passes. Anyone who has pledged for a Star Citizen Package can now play today without worrying they won’t have access to some portion of the ‘Verse in the future. No Star Marine pass, no Alpha 2.0 pass… no additional payment needed for any module in the works, pre-release. Going forward, should we need to put out some sort of limited release it will be done through the PTU test server. All backers will have access to any live release, the moment it publishes.

In addition, I’d like to reward our earliest supporters who made it possible to get to this point. Everyone with an ‘alpha access’ package will be awarded 10,000 UEC; everyone who purchased an Arena Commander pass individually will be given 5,000 UEC (with the cap raising appropriately to allow this.) You also have my most sincere thanks: you were our vanguard, the battalion that fought the good fight from the beginning. Your impact on Star Citizen will never be forgotten, for without your early faith we couldn’t be where we are today. (Please note that this credit payout is going to take a big script, so it may take Turbulent a few days to work out the logistics!)