Bonzer Words!: Heavens Above - Space Tourism
"With Christmas fast approaching, maybe you are struggling to find the perfect gift for that friend or relative who has everything. Perhaps a voucher for a trip into space would fill the bill—though the cost would probably blow the budget for some time to come. But what wouldn't you pay for such a unique experience?'' writes Wendy Ogbourne.
The pioneers of paid space flight were a Russian company called Space Adventures, whose customers are carried, for US$20million each, by Soyuz spacecraft of the Russian Space Agency. In 2001, Denis Tito, an American businessman and former scientist was the first fee-paying space tourist. He had originally intended to visit the Mir spacecraft, but when it was decommissioned, transferred his destination to the International Space Station, where he spent seven days. The second was Mark Shuttleworth, a South African computer millionaire, in 2002.
After the Columbia disaster in 2003, the program was put on hold, until resumption in 2005, with American Gregory Olsen, a manufacturer of high-sensitivity cameras; then, in 2006, Iranian/American Anousheh Ansari, the first woman customer, followed by Hungarian Charles Simonyi in 2007.
The sixth participant was Richard Garriott, a computer game designer from Texas USA, in October 2008. He is the first second-generation tourist, following in his father, Owen's, footsteps.
Nik Halik, a financial guru and adventurer who has made his money through sharemarket trading, was selected to be the back-up crew member for the October 2008 flight. He will continue to be on call as a back-up for future flights, and will be Australia's first private space explorer. He describes it as 'adventure travel'. Nik has paid US$3 million for the privilege of spending two weeks living and working on the International Space Station. Before being chosen, he had to undergo rigorous medical tests and examinations, and has been attending an intensive training program at the Star City Cosmonaut Space Centre in Russia, which has taken months.
However, if US$20million is a little out of your league, maybe you could manage US$200,000 for a seat on one of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceships, due to begin in 2009. However, you'll have to join the queue, as over 200 passengers have already signed up. Eventually he hopes to have up to four flights per day, with 500 passengers in the first year of operation. Branson announced the launch of this project in July this year, offering sub-orbital flights at altitudes of 100 to 160 kms above the earth. Each flight, for six passengers, will be 2.5 hours long, and will include three to six minutes of weightlessness. The spacecraft will be carried by a mother-ship called WhiteKnight Two, with two pilots. No heat-shield will be needed to protect the craft on re-entry into the atmosphere, such as is needed for the space shuttle, which reaches much greater speeds and has a much sharper angle of re-entry. Flights will launch initially from Mojave Spaceport in California, then later from a permanent spaceport in New Mexico. Just three days training will be required for these flights.
Branson has said that he views sub-orbital flights as the money-making venture of the future, and believes that space tourism will become available for all. A German company, Project Enterprise, has similar plans for space flights to begin in 2011, and others, such as Starchaser, Blue Origin and Armadillo Aerospace are also interested in the game. Future projects may be the construction of space hotels, with visions of weddings in space. Some see it as a necessary forerunner to settlement of other planets. Bigelow Aerospace, a huge American organisation, has offered a US$50million prize to the first US company to build a reusable spacecraft to transport passengers to and from a commercial space station, which they call Nautilus. Organisations, such as the Space Tourism Society have been formed to promote the idea of space tourism.
Some purists dislike the term 'space tourism', which evokes visions of flowered shirts and cameras round the neck. They prefer 'commercial space travel' or 'private space exploration', but it doesn't have the same ring. If paying for a travel experience, of whatever sort, is being a 'tourist', what's wrong with that?
So, there you have it. No longer is 'the sky the limit', but space itself. Maybe it's worth saving your pennies for the chance of a view of a star-filled sky such as you've never seen before, plus the curved horizon of our mother earth in all its glory. Just imagine the holiday snaps you will be able to bring back!
For all the details, try
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tourism
http://www.spacefuture.com/tourism/introduction.shtml
