Space tourism is big business now, offering packages a
tourinaut can choose from
Space tourism, once confined to science fiction. is big business
now.
One of the biggest players in the filed of space tourism is the
Space Adventures and the Russian Space Program, founded in 1998.
Eric Anderson, CO of Space Adventures and the Russian Space Program,
knew there were people who wanted to go into space who weren’t
astronauts or cosmonauts and could pay for the big opportunity.
Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen and most recently
Anousheh Ansari, the first female tourinaut, have all been into
space at $20 million a ticket.
But, travelling to space for fun is not that easy, besides the big
money. You have to spend six months and 900 hours in training in
Star City alongside the astronauts who will be piloting your ride.
Soyuz systems, the International Space Station (ISS), learning the
Russian language and physical training are all part of your lesson
plan. All this training will prepare you for 10 days on the ISS.
During the eight-day trip, the tourinauts lend a hand and perform
experiments, sometimes using their own bodies for experimenting.
Anousheh Ansari helped with a lower-back pain study and a microbe
study, according to Space Adventures’ Pat Hoar
Spacewalking is an option, which was recently at an additional cost
of $15 million, for about 1.5 hours. Additional training is, of
course, required for spacewalking.
For the ultimate in getting away from it all, there is Deep Space
Expeditions-Alpha, which costs $100 million. In this programme, two
tourinauts and one astronaut will spend six days going around the
moon and returning safely to the earth.
For those who can’t afford either the $100 million or even the $20
million, there are ‘budget’ trips – these are sub-orbital flights
tagged at just over $100,000.
Here, you enjoy the view of the earth from 62 miles up. The
five-place vehicle is in the development stage, and no liftoff date
has been announced just yet.
Training for the ‘budget’ trip is for four days, covering safety
procedures, vehicle systems, flight ops, weightlessness and more.
Two spaceports will be built in conjunction with the programme,
Spaceport Singapore and Spaceport Emirates.
For those who find even sub-orbital flight too costly, there is the
Zero-G flight, priced a little above $3,000. Mission briefing and
several parabolic flights for the Zero-G flight in a modified Boeing
727-200 plane are on the agenda.
Tourinauts are allowed 10 kilogrammes of personal items while on the
ISS.
Sometimes the items for the experiments are sent up to the ISS on
Progress, the supply ship.
In short, space tourism has given a new definition and dimension to
the space race!
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