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- [ edit ] The X Prize
- [ edit ] Virgin Galactic
- [ edit ] Project Enterprise
- [ edit ] Legality
- [ edit ] Orbital flights, space stations and space hotels
- [ edit ] Advocacy, education, and industry organizations
- [ edit ] Opinions of commercial space tourism
- [ edit ] Objections to "space tourist" terminology
- Our Mission is Your Mission
- Aviation Authorities Prepare for Space Tourism
- Space Tourism- Pros Cons
SHANGHAI, China — The competition for space tourists is playing out in China as well as the United States, with rival companies signing up well-to-do customers for future flights. The faceoff has as much to do with winning a foothold in the world's biggest potential market as well as chalking up another first in the annals of spaceflight. More than a year ago , Virginia-based Space Adventures announced that Hong Kong-based businessman Jiang Feng was paying $100,000 to take a suborbital passenger flight aboard an unspecified spaceship that has yet to be built. Now an adviser to British-based Virgin Galactic says a businessman from eastern China's Zhejiang province will be among the first 100 passengers for Virgin's SpaceShipTwo suborbital rocket plane. Like Space Adventures, Virgin Galactic is one of the leaders in the emerging space tourism industry. The Shanghai adviser, Rupert Hoogewerf, told Reuters that the businessman has paid Virgin's $200,000 fare for the flight package. Hoogewerf said the man was under 40 and had asked for his identity to be kept secret. About 20 men and three women from China — out of 65,000 people globally — have voiced interest in the Virgin Galactic flights, and a female Chinese space traveler had still to be selected, said Hoogewerf, who publishes an annual list of China's wealthiest people. Jiang as well as Virgin's mystery client are vying for the title of "first Chinese space tourist" — but it's not yet clear which one will fly first. Virgin Galactic, owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, has said it will begin taking on passengers in the 2008-2009 time frame. Its rocket plane, modeled after the X Prize-winning SpaceShipOne, is designed to carry six passengers and two pilots on 2.5-hour flights to the edge of space. Virgin's first spaceflights would take off from Mojave, Calif., with a move to New Mexico's future spaceport planned for 2009-2010. Space Adventures, meanwhile, has forged agreements with a variety of spaceship developers — including a deal with the Russian Federal Space Agency and the Prodea venture capital firm reportedly aimed at beginning suborbital tourism service in the next couple of years. However, Space Adventures' time frame has shifted over the past couple of years: Last year, the company projected that Jiang would be able to fly in 2007. Since 2001, Space Adventures has arranged for four private-sector space passengers to take orbital trips to the international space station, at an estimated cost of $20 million each. One of those passengers, Iranian-American entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari, is a partner in the Prodea venture.
Space tourism is tourism in which participants pay for flights into space. As of 2010, orbital space tourism opportunities are limited and expensive, with only the Russian Space Agency providing transport. The price for a flight brokered by Space Adventures to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft is US$ 20–35 million. The space tourists usually sign contracts with third parties to conduct certain research while in orbit. This helps to minimize their own expenses. Infrastructure for a suborbital space tourism industry is being developed through the construction of spaceports in numerous locations, including California, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, Alaska, Wisconsin, Esrange in Sweden as well as the United Arab Emirates. Some use the term "personal spaceflight" as in the case of the Personal Spaceflight Federation. A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, hoping to create a space tourism industry. For a list of such companies, and the spacecraft they are currently building, see list of space tourism companies. Russia halted orbital space tourism since 2010 due to the increase in the International Space Station crew size, using the seats for expedition crews that would be sold to paying spaceflight participants. However it is planned to resume in 2012, when the number of single-use three-man Soyuz launches rises to five a year. Early dreams: After early successes in space, much of the public saw intensive space exploration as inevitable. Those aspirations are remembered in science fiction such as Arthur C. Clarke's A Fall of Moondust and also 2001: A Space Odyssey, Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Joanna Russ's 1968 novel Picnic on Paradise, and Larry Niven's Known Space stories. Lucian in the 2nd century AD in his book True History examines the idea of a crew of men whose ship travels to the Moon during a storm. Jules Verne also took up the theme of lunar visits in his books, From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon. Robert A. Heinlein’s short story The Menace from Earth, published in 1957, was one of the first to incorporate elements of a developed space tourism industry within its framework. During the 1960s and 1970s, it was common belief that space hotels would be launched by 2000. Many futurologists around the middle of the 20th century speculated that the average family of the early 21st century would be able to enjoy a holiday on the Moon. In the 1960s, Pan Am established a waiting list for future flights to the moon,[4] issuing free "First Moon Flights Club" membership cards to those who requested them. The end of the Space Race, however, signified by the Moon landing, decreased the emphasis placed on space exploration by national governments and therefore led to decreased demands for public funding of manned space flights.[5]Orbital space tourism: At the end of the 1990s, MirCorp, a private venture by then in charge of the space station, began seeking potential space tourists to visit Mir in order to offset some of its maintenance costs. Dennis Tito, an American businessman and former JPL scientist, became their first candidate. When the decision to de-orbit Mir was made, Tito managed to switch his trip to the International Space Station through a deal between MirCorp and U.S.-based Space Adventures, Ltd., despite strong opposition from senior figures at NASA. From the beginning of the International Space Station expeditions, NASA stated it wasn't interested in space guests.[7] Space Adventures remains the only company to have sent paying passengers to space. In conjunction with the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation and Rocket and Space Corporation (Energia), Space Adventures facilitated the flights for all of the world's first private space explorers. The first three participants paid in excess of $20 million (USD) each for their 10-day visit to the ISS. On April 28, 2001, Dennis Tito became the first "fee-paying" space tourist when he visited the International Space Station (ISS) for seven days. He was followed in 2002 by South African computer millionaire Mark Shuttleworth. The third was Gregory Olsen in 2005, who was trained as a scientist and whose company produced specialist high-sensitivity cameras. Olsen planned to use his time on the ISS to conduct a number of experiments, in part to test his company's products. Olsen had planned an earlier flight, but had to cancel for health reasons. After the Columbia disaster, space tourism on the Russian Soyuz program was temporarily put on hold, because Soyuz vehicles became the only available transport to the ISS. However, in 2006, space tourism was resumed.[why?] On September 18, 2006, Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian American (Soyuz TMA-9), became the fourth space tourist (she prefers "private space explorer".[10]). On April 7, 2007, Charles Simonyi, an American businessman of Hungarian descent, joined their ranks (Soyuz TMA-10). Simonyi became the first repeat space tourist, paying again to fly on Soyuz TMA-14 in March-April 2009. Guy Laliberté became the next space tourist in September, 2009 aboard Soyuz TMA-16. In 2003, NASA and the Russian Space Agency agreed to use the term 'Spaceflight Participant' to distinguish those space travelers from astronauts on missions coordinated by those two agencies. Tito, Shuttleworth, Olsen, Ansari, and Simonyi were designated as such during their respective space flights.[11] NASA also lists Christa McAuliffe as a "Space Flight Participant" (although she did not pay a fee), apparently due to her non-technical duties aboard the STS-51-L flight. As reported by Reuters on 3 March 2010, Russia announced that the country will double the number of launches of three-man Soyuz ships to four that year, because "permanent crews of professional astronauts aboard the expanded [ISS] station are set to rise to six"; regarding space tourism, the head of the Russian Cosmonauts' Training Center said "for some time there will be a break in these journeys".[1] Then, on 18 March 2010 Interfax news agency reported that Russia plans to launch five Soyuz spacecrafts a year since 2012: four per the ISS program, and an additional spacecraft which may be used for space tourism.[2]List of flown space tourists: Seven of the space tourists flew to and from the International Space Station on Soyuz spacecraft through the space tourism company, Space Adventures:[12]
Suborbital flights: More affordable suborbital space tourism is viewed as a money-making proposition by several other companies, including Space Adventures, Virgin Galactic, Starchaser, Blue Origin, Armadillo Aerospace, XCOR Aerospace, Rocketplane Limited, the European "Project Enterprise",[15] and others. Most are proposing vehicles that make suborbital flights peaking at an altitude of 100-160 kilometres.[16] Passengers would experience three to six minutes of weightlessness, a view of a twinkle-free starfield, and a vista of the curved Earth below. Projected costs are expected to be about $200,000 per passenger. As of November 2007 Virgin Galactic had pre-sold nearly 200 seats for their suborbital space tourism flights, according to the company's president.[edit] The X PrizeThe X-Prize being awarded to the Scaled Composites team On October 4, 2004, the SpaceShipOne, designed by Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites, won the $10,000,000 X Prize, which was designed to be won by the first private company who could reach and surpass an altitude of 62 miles (100 km) twice within two weeks. The altitude is beyond the Kármán Line, the arbitrarily defined boundary of space.[23] The first flight was flown by Michael Melvill on June 21, 2004 to a height of 62 miles, making him the first commercial astronaut.[24] The prize-winning flight was flown by Brian Binnie, which reached a height of 69.6 miles, breaking the X-15 record.[23] [edit] Virgin GalacticSpaceship One, the first privately funded and constructed spacecraft to fly above the 100 km Karman Line. Virgin Galactic, one of the leading potential space tourism groups, is planning to begin passenger service aboard the VSS Enterprise, a Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo type spacecraft. The initial seat price will be $200,000, but that price is expected to eventually fall to $20,000. To date, over 80,000 people have made down payments on bookings. Headed by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, Virgin Galactic hopes to be the first private space tourism company to regularly send civilians into space. A citizen astronaut will only require three days of training before spaceflight. SpaceShipTwo is a scaled up version of SpaceShipOne, the spacecraft which claimed the Ansari X Prize. Both spacecraft were designed by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites. Launches will initially occur at the Mojave Spaceport in California, and will then be moved to Spaceport America in Upham, New Mexico. Tourists will also be flown from Kiruna, Sweden[25] The spacecraft will travel 360,000 feet (109.73 km/68.18 miles) high. This goes beyond the internationally defined boundary between Earth and space of 100 km. Spaceflights will last 2.5 hours, carry 6 passengers, and reach a speed of Mach 3. SpaceShipTwo will not require a space shuttle-like heat shield for atmospheric reentry as it will not experience the extreme aerodynamic heating experienced during reentry at orbital velocities (approximately Mach 22.5 at a typical shuttle altitude of 300 km, or 185 miles).[26] The glider will employ a "feathering" technique to manage drag during the unpowered descent and landing. SpaceShipTwo will use a single hybrid rocket motor to launch from mid-air after detaching from a mother ship at 50,000 feet, instead of NASA's space shuttle's ground-based launch. [edit] Project EnterpriseProject Enterprise was launched by the German TALIS Institute in 2004 and is the first project of its kind in Europe.[27] The goal is to develop a rocket-propelled spaceplane by 2011 that will carry one pilot and up to five passengers into suborbital space. The plane will launch from the ground using rockets, and will return in an unpowered flight like Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. The prototypes and finished spaceplane will be launched from an airport near Cochstedt (Germany; Saxony-Anhalt). Since 2004, the TALIS Institute has gained many industrial partners, including XtremeAir,[28] who will manufacture the airframe, and Swiss Propulsion Laboratory SPL,[29] who will deliver the propulsion components. XtremeAir is known for their acrobatic airplanes, and SPL has designed and tested liquid propellant rocket engines since 1998. Current work is focusing on the first prototype, the "Black Sky": An existing acrobatic airplane that would be fitted with a single rocket engine and a new wing. The rocket engine is expected to deliver a thrust of 10 kN. The test program for this engine started in 2007 at SPL and is expected to fly by 2010.[30][31]
[edit] United StatesIn December 2005, the U.S. Government released a set of proposed rules for space tourism.[32] These included screening procedures and training for emergency situations, but not health requirements. Under current US law, any company proposing to launch paying passengers from American soil on a suborbital rocket must receive a license from the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST). The licensing process focuses on public safety and safety of property, and the details can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 14, Chapter III.[33] This is in accordance with the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act passed by Congress in 2004.[34] [edit] Orbital flights, space stations and space hotels
Several plans have been proposed for using a space station as a hotel.[39] American motel tycoon Robert Bigelow has acquired the designs for inflatable space habitats from the Transhab program abandoned by NASA. His company, Bigelow Aerospace, has already launched two first inflatable habitat modules. The first, named Genesis I, was launched 12 July 2006. The second test module, Genesis II, was launched 28 June 2007. Both Genesis habitats remain in orbit as of mid-2009. As of 2006, Bigelow planned to officially launch the first commercial space station by 2012 (tagged Nautilus) which will have 330 cubic meters (almost as big as the ISS's 425 cubic meters of usable volume).[40][41] Bigelow Aerospace is currently offering the America's Space Prize, a $50 million prize to the first US company to create a reusable spacecraft capable of carrying passengers to a Nautilus space station.[citation needed] Other companies have also expressed interest in constructing "space hotels". For example, Excalibur Almaz plans to modernize and launch its Soviet-era Almaz space stations, which will feature the largest windows ever on spacecraft.[citation needed] Virgin's Richard Branson has expressed his hope for the construction of a space hotel within his lifetime. He expects that beginning a space tourism program will cost $100 million.[17] Hilton International announced the Space Islands Project, a plan to connect together used space shuttle fuel tanks, each the diameter of a Boeing 747 aircraft.[42] A separate organization, Space Island Group[43] announced their distinct Space Island Project (note the singular "Island"), and plans on having 20,000 people on their "space island" by 2020, with the number of people doubling for each decade.[44] British Airways has expressed interest in the venture. If and when Space Hotels develop, it would initially cost a passenger $60,000, with prices lowering over time.[45] Fashion designer Eri Matsui has designed clothing, including a wedding gown, intended to look best in weightless environments.[citation needed] [edit] Advocacy, education, and industry organizationsSeveral organizations have been formed to promote the space tourism industry, including the Space Tourism Society, and others.[46][47][48] More information about the future of Space Tourism can be found at Space Tourism Lecture, which is a free online Space Tourism Lecture handout collection. Since 2003 Dr. Robert A. Goehlich teaches the world's first and only Space Tourism class at Keio University, Yokohama, Japan. Space Tourism Syllabus UniGalactic Space Travel Magazine is a bi-monthly educational publication covering space tourism and space exploration developments in companies like SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, Virgin Galactic and organizations like NASA. The content of UniGalactic Space Travel Magazine can be found on UniGalactic web site. [edit] Opinions of commercial space tourismA web-based survey suggested that over 70% of those surveyed wanted less than or equal to 2 weeks in space; in addition, 88% wanted to spacewalk (only 74% of these would do it for a 50% premium), and 21% wanted a hotel or space station.[49] The concept has met with some criticism from bureaucrats, notably Günter Verheugen, vice-president of the European Commission, who said of the EADS Astrium Space Tourism Project "It's only for the super rich, which is against my social convictions".[50] [edit] Objections to "space tourist" terminologyFurther information: Astronaut#Terminology Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Gregory Olsen, Anousheh Ansari and Richard Garriott have all expressed a preference to be called something other than "space tourist". In each case, they explained their preferences by pointing out that they carried out scientific experiments as part of their journey; Garriott additionally emphasized their training is identical to requirements of non-Russian Soyuz crew members, and that teachers and other non-professional astronauts chosen to fly with NASA are called astronauts.[51] Garriott prefers "cosmonaut" or "astronaut", but will accept "private" in front of either. Tito has asked to be known as an "independent researcher".[citation needed] Shuttleworth proposed "pioneer of commercial space travel".[52] Olsen preferred "private researcher."[53] Ansari prefers the term "private space explorer".[10] Alone among those who have paid to go to orbit so far, Charles Simonyi seems to have no concerns about calling it "space tourism", even in reference to his own experience. Asked in an interview "Do you foresee a day when space tourism is not just the province of billionaires - when it will be as affordable as plane travel?", he did not object to the implicit categorization of his own trip, but rather answered "Yes, the only question is when ...."[54] NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency agreed to use the term "spaceflight participant" to distinguish those space travelers from astronauts on missions coordinated by those two agencies. Although many space enthusiasts subscribe to the notion of space tourism as a potential burgeoning industry that could further the development and settlement of space, some of these same enthusiasts object to the use of the term "space tourist". Rick Tumlinson of the Space Frontier Foundation, for example, has said "I hate the word tourist, and I always will .... 'Tourist' is somebody in a flowered shirt with three cameras around his neck."[55] Others with perhaps less enthusiasm for space development seem to agree. Alex Tabarrok has categorized it as a kind of "adventure travel". The mere fact of people paying for a travel experience does not, in his view, make that activity "tourism". "At best and for the foreseeable future space travel will remain akin to climbing Everest, dangerous and uncommon. Yes, we might see 100 flights a year but that's not space tourism - tourism is fat guys with cameras."[56] Brian Binnie, and Mike Melvill, the pilots of Scaled Composites Space Ship One were awarded the title of Commercial Astronaut by the United States Federal Aviation Administration. This is a new classification that distinguishes the holder as an astronaut, but is not associated with the United States NASA space program. Our Mission is Your MissionThe one and only source for the newly developing Space Tourism Industry! Everyone has a dream to be able to take a trip into space without having to becoming an American Astronaut, a Russian Cosmonaut or a Chinese Taikonaut. In May of 2001, that dream became a reality for American businessman and former National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) engineer, Dennis Tito when he became the world's first paying customer by purchasing an eight day "vacation trip" to and from the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz-U space vehicle for approximately $20,000,000 (USD). A lot has happened since then because now there are a number of cost effective ways under development to safely transport people to and from the edge of space* for a fraction of the cost that Dennis Tito paid. Studies show that 70% of Americans would buy a flight into space if they had the chance and the cost was reasonable. We are Universal Space Systems, LLC (USS) and making people aware of commercial space travel as passengers aboard a space vehicle on a sub-orbital or orbital spaceflight** is what we do. The purpose of this Web site and our companion Web sites is to focus in on a single aspect of space – commercial space travel for the rest of us non-astronauts, or Space Tourism (ST) as it is commonly referred to. We intend to be THE single source of information for anything and everything happening in this newly emerging and developing space industry. We offer a completely independent and unbiased picture of ST with our Web sites and our Space Adventurer Assessment/Report. Our intent is to be both a Guide Dog as well as a Watch Dog. We view this Web site as the "Consumer Reports ®" for Space Tourism. We are the first to provide this type of information and we will be the best at doing it.
Our mission is to make your dream of becoming a "space tourist" a reality too. This can only be accomplished by providing you with the latest information affecting the Space Tourism Industry so you can make the right choice for your space travel plans. The Space Tourism Industry is not regulated like the airline industry. Current rules will permit "space tourists" to fly in these new space vehicles now under development as long as they do so in full knowledge of the risks involved. You make monetary decisions with a financial advisor. You make health decisions with a medical specialist. Why would you settle for making your own decision on a space adventure that involves both your money and your health? We want you to make the right decision - an informed, intelligent decision that is right for you. The best way to accomplish this goal is with our Space Adventurer Assessment/Report. (Also see our Products/Services.) Take the time to review this Web site, and our "satellite" Web sites***, and see what is happening in the Space Tourism industry, what we are currently doing, learn about spaceport complexes (www.UniversalSpaceports.com), space vehicles (www.UniversalSpaceships.com) and then check out how you can earn your Astronaut Wings by visiting www.UniversalSpaceTours.com or www.UniversalSpacelines.com. There is no time like the present to experience the thrill of a lifetime by going on an adventure unlike anything you have ever been on before. Space travel, however, isn't for everyone because there are certain risks associated with spaceflight but if you meet the requirements there should be nothing to stop you from becoming a space tourist! This Web site along with our "satellite" Web sites will be developing right along side with the industry that we support so expect frequent changes - visit us again soon and visit us often. Why Nasa is against of space tourism? December 7th, 2006 under Tourism Space Tourism means organizing of space flights for ordinary members of the public. Some people find this idea futuristic. But over the past few years a great volume of professional work has been done on this subject, and it’s now clear that creating of commercial space tourism services is a realistic target for business today.Among the opponents of this idea is a NASA. Their first concern is about the health of the ôspace travelers.
Space tourism – once the stuff of sci-fi novels and the Jetsons – is nearly here. Several private companies are planning to offer the public rides into space starting in the next two to five years. The accommodations won’t be as lavish as in the movies or on television, but the Federal Aviation Administration has already started to prepare for a future in which airplanes and spaceships will share the air, and private companies will play a bigger role in space transportation of all kinds.
Last month, the FAA created a think tank to bring together industry, government and seven universities – among them Stanford – to conduct research and propose regulations for commercial space travel. The Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation will be located at New Mexico State University, in Las Cruces. The idea of private space travel may sound like fun, but the potential challenges it brings are deadly serious, experts say. Among them: How can rockets and airplanes safely share the air? What kind of floating junk might spacecraft run into? How fit do private citizens need to be to go into space? And just how good of a business is space tourism? “If you start to have launches once a day rather than once a month, and they occur in the middle of the nation rather than at the coasts, this could change how you manage your air traffic,” said Scott Hubbard, a Stanford professor of aeronautics and astronautics and former director of NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View.
Currently, only 20 to 30 spacecraft are launched in the United States each year, said Stanford professor of aeronautics and astronautics Juan Alonso, who will be conducting research for the FAA along with Hubbard. They leave from launching pads on the coasts – at Vandenberg Air Force Base, in Santa Barbara County, and Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida – to minimize the impact of any accident. Communication satellites are regularly launched by private companies on rockets like this one at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Credit: Boeing) “Because it’s so limited, we don’t have to come up with a particular system to not collide or disturb the traffic,” Alonso said. The FAA simply creates a temporary flight restriction along the spacecraft’s path so that airplanes won’t fly into the area during the few minutes it takes for the rocket to lift off. But in the next 15 years, as the number of space flights grows and more of them depart from specialized space travel airports located inland, in places like New Mexico, managing air traffic control will become a more complex job. And today’s tools could fall dangerously short. “Air traffic management is based on principles that were developed 50 years ago,” said Stanford’s Alonso. “Air traffic controllers get a plan and they direct the flights. In general, only the controllers know where all the airplanes are.” This is because the system is based on radar, a technology by which dishes on the ground emit signals that bounce off of moving objects and send back information about their location and speed. “Some areas of the world aren’t covered by radar,” said Alonso. “And if there’s a mountain between the dish and the object, it doesn’t work.” The FAA is already planning to replace its radar-based air traffic control system with one that uses satellite information, said FAA spokesperson Laura Brown. A satellite-based system will enable aircraft to share information on their positions and provide a much more precise picture of where everything is. It also would make it possible to create tools that could simulate the likely trajectories of airplanes and spaceships, said Alonso.
The biggest difference in regulating space flight and air flight is that the FAA currently ensures the safety of airplanes and passengers by requiring things like regular repairs and safety equipment. That won’t be the case with space flight, which will be treated more like an adventure sport. When the first paying customers go up to space, they’ll have to sign an informed consent form. “It’s very similar to skiing,” said John Gedmark, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, in Washington, D.C., which represents some 30 companies. “Whenever anyone goes skiing, they have to sign a waiver that shows that they understand the risks that they’re about to take.” He said that his group is developing a form that would be used on the first space flights. The difference in safety requirements between air flights and space flights is meant as a way to allow the new industry room to develop, said FAA spokesperson Brown. It’s also a reflection of space flight’s risks. Multi-day space trips, like the ones that this Boeing spacecraft might one day perform, will carry more risk than short flights. (Artist rendering credit: Boeing) “Flying on a commercial space vehicle won’t be considered as safe as flying in a commercial airplane when operations first start,” said Brown. “But just as in the early days of aviation, some people are willing to take those risks.” And even after thousands of space flights, whizzing away on a rocket is likely to never be as safe as flying in a plane, said the industry’s Gedmark. The chance of a plane suffering an accident is one in a million, said Stanford’s Scott Hubbard, while manned space launches have been about 95 to 96 percent successful since they first started 40 years ago. “So that means you had a 5 percent chance of something very wrong happening,” said Hubbard. Two of the companies leading the commercial space business are Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Both have been putting satellites into orbit since the 1960s and helped build the space shuttle for NASA. Now they and about a dozen newer, smaller companies are poised to play a bigger role in space. Some companies will take over transportation of crew and cargo to the International Space Station after NASA launches the space shuttle for the last time in 2011. Among them are SpaceX, a company in Hawthorne, California, owned by entrepreneur Elon Musk, also the founder of the Palo Alto-based electric car company Tesla. Meanwhile, in April, President Obama announced a new space policy that increases the role of private industry in space transportation and calls for spending $5.8 billion over five years to support commercial space travel. The Senate approved a NASA budget that allots this amount, but negotiations are underway with the House, which is less supportive of private efforts. [UPDATE: On Sept. 30, the House approved a bill that authorizes $1.4 billion for commercial space transportation over three years. The final amount will be determined by legislation that still needs to be approved, said NASA spokesperson Bob Jacobs.] Other private companies are focusing on building spacecraft to carry tourists on short flights in which they would achieve weightlessness, but not orbit the Earth. And some like Boeing are combining transportation to the space station with tourism. The company hopes to sell tickets on its planned flights to the space station, just as the Russians have done on eight of their missions to raise funds for their space program.
The safety of space flight will vary depending on how far into space passengers venture. And that will depend on how much they can afford, though more money might actually increase the risk. Starting at $200,000, Virgin Galactic is offering space tourists tickets for a two-hour trip that will take them 60 miles up to the edge of space. They’ll float around surrounded by darkness – stars don’t twinkle in space – and they’ll be able to snap photos of the Earth. These flights are called suborbital because the spacecraft doesn’t go into orbit around the Earth the way that a flight to the International Space Station would. Virgin Galactic has collected $45 million in deposits from 330 people, and intends to fly its first space tourists sometime in 2012, the AFP news agency reported this week.
The weightless experience would last only a few minutes, said Stanford’s Hubbard. That type of short flight will be far less risky than longer space trips because the rocket won’t need as much energy to launch and won’t be coming back through the atmosphere as fast, said Hubbard. Short flights also won’t be likely to cause the health problems that longer space trips can trigger, said Millie Hughes-Fulford, former space shuttle astronaut and University of California-San Francisco professor of biochemistry and biophysics. On trips lasting from nine days to 6 months, humans and animals have been found to suffer a whole host of physical effects. “Loss of bone has been verified, loss of immune function, loss of muscle strength,” she said. “And humans don’t regain bone that they lose in orbit.”
Still, Boeing is betting that a few people will want to make the longer trip. Those with several million dollars to spare have so far only had the opportunity to fly to the International Space Station on board a Russian spacecraft. They soon might be able to board a U.S. vehicle. Boeing’s seven-person spacecraft, called the CST-100, will be cozy, with three people sitting above four others inside the capsule. “If you stood up, your head would be about to hit the ceiling,” said Keith Reiley, Boeing’s commercial crew development program manager. But once you were floating around, he said, it would feel “more roomy.” Boeing's spacecraft would seat seven. (Credit: Boeing) It would take eight hours to get to the space station, which is in orbit about 260 miles from Earth. Diapers would be provided for “number one,” said Reiley. As for “number two,” the facilities would be located behind a privacy curtain. Boeing isn’t ready to say how much tickets will be. It depends on the market the company finds, Reiley said. But judging by the almost $40 million the Russian space agency charged Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté to travel to the space station in 2009, those could be some very expensive diapers. Boeing is designing the spacecraft in Houston and Hawthorne, California, with $18 million in stimulus funds. If NASA decides to move forward with the vehicle, Boeing would deliver it in 2015. Since NASA only needs four of the seats, the company has partnered with the Virginia-based Space Adventures to market the rest of the seats to private individuals, companies, non-governmental organizations and federal agencies besides NASA. Space Adventures already markets the trips on board the Russian spacecraft. Boeing’s idea in following the Russian model is to bring down the cost of missions for NASA, Reiley said.
For those who have $5,000 of expendable income, the experience of weightlessness is already available. Space Adventures, through its Virginia-based company called Zero-G, provides short airplane trips that create weightlessness without the need to travel to space. Berkeley-based venture capitalist Dan Miller took his first Zero-G trip four years ago, flying out of San José, and liked weightlessness so much that he returned with his 12-year-old son, on a trip leaving from Las Vegas.
“It was peaceful, calm,” he said. “It felt like a very natural state to be.” Weightlessness, as it turns out, isn’t the result of escaping the gravitational pull of the Earth. In fact, the Earth’s pull is so strong that it keeps the Moon orbiting around it. Zero-G’s modified Boeing 727 jets climb about 6 miles up into the air, then pitch the nose. As passengers fall with the plane, nothing resists their mass the way that the Earth offers resistance when our feet are planted on it. That’s why they’re able to float around an area of the plane where the seats have been removed. “It’s the exact same weightlessness that astronauts experience,” said Miller, who wanted to be an astronaut as a child. On Zero-G’s planes, the experience lasts 30 seconds, repeated 12 to 15 times, as the plane climbs and falls. So what’s next for Miller? “I would prefer to go orbital because you’re living weightless for a few days,” he said. And the view isn’t shabby either, said former astronaut Hughes-Fulford, who spent nine days on board the space shuttle Columbia in 1991. “Take your camera,” she said encouragingly. “You get one life, you should use it how you want to – with your family’s agreement.”
"One of the most basic traits of human beings is to discover new frontiers. From early cave men, to Columbus, to modern day space explorers, humans have enjoyed traveling. Traveling and tourism is a major factor in today's global economy. Space tourism is a very new idea that was once thought of as no more than science fiction, just like visiting the moon once was also and has been left untouched, due to certain restrictions. The idea has been around for many years, even before the first rocket went into space. Today's ever-changing technology is allowing space travel to become less expensive and safer; two of the major factors that have limited tourism in space. Safer and cheaper ways of traveling to space are making the idea of space tourism become more realistic. Space tourism must now be looked upon as a viable reality that will change the way the world operates and should be implemented past the conceptual stage and developed into reality for the tourist of tomorrow." Space Tourism- Pros & ConsThe dream once dreaded is seen with thrill today. It is on its way of turning true if we succeed in exploring space. Astronomers and space researchers have already started taking efforts in this direction. They have begun exploring space. Nations have sponsored manned and unmanned space flights to destinations unexplored in view of making the 'impossibles' possible. But is space tourism really a rosy picture? Or do some dark clouds shadow it? Let us look at the pros and cons of space tourism. Pros of Space Tourism: Space tourism has the potential of discovering the yet undiscovered facts about space. It has a great potential of resolving mysteries that surround the outer space. It may bring about a dramatic change to our lives. Through the tourism of space, we may find new minerals, new precious materials. We may end up finding new human-like species in the outer space. We may find new living beings that are better developed and better evolved than we are. Exploring space may lead us to the discovery of an all-new world. An unexpected progress and advancement that the living beings in space might have made, may take us by surprise. Space tourism whets the human appetite for adventure. There are many brave souls around the world who wish to take risks in life. They love adventure, they love accepting challenges, and they love making the impossibilities possible. Space tourism satisfies this human desire of adventure.
Manned missions to space impose a huge amount of risk on the astronauts who travel to space. Apart from the expenditure of money, a travel to space also risks the human life. The human beings who travel in space have to face harsh conditions and challenge themselves to adapt to unfriendly environment. Unmanned missions and those using robots to explore space are a solution to risking the human life. But robots mean another new technology, thus incurring added costs. What seems to take us by surprise may land us in trouble. We may find something in space that is lethal to life on Earth. We may discover something that is extremely harmful for the living beings on Earth. Space tourism may invite some dangerous microorganisms that may exist in space. The extraterrestrial beings may actually prove dangerous for human life. Space tourism can mean a major leap for mankind but it is also criticized as not having achieved any major scientific breakthroughs. Public interest can serve as the determinant factor in judging the suitability of space tourism. It may not be wise to splurge on space tourism if other basic needs are being ignored or left unfulfilled. Download 142.33 Kb. Share with your friends:
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