spacetourism

Virgin Galactic Completes Successful Maiden Voyage

Filed under: Wings

Public space travel took another leap forward last week when Virgin Galactic made its maiden voyage in the skies over the Mojave Desert in California. The test flight consisted of carrier plane WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) taking flight for the first time while carrying SpaceShipTwo (SS2), the vessel that will eventually be the one to take passengers out to space. The plan is for WK2 to carry SS2 up to a high altitude before dropping it, at which point the hybrid rocket motor will fire and SS2 will carry passengers the rest of the way out to space on its own.

During this first test flight WK2 flew with SS2 for about 3 hours, without incident or hiccup. There are many more test flights to be completed (test hops, drop flights, and actual trips to space) before passengers will be allowed to take tourism flights out of Spaceport America in New Mexico. The project is running longer and is costing more than originally anticipated, but the hope is that SS2 will undergo its first powered test by the end of this year and that the project could be opened to passengers as soon as late 2011 or early 2012.

Via Dvice

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Tags: space, space flight, space tourism, space travel, SpaceFlight, spaceshiptwo, SpaceTourism, SpaceTravel, virgin galactic, VirginGalactic

Space Hotel To Open In 2012

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Will space tourism stays be possible in just a couple of years? A Spanish company has said that their Galactic Suite Space Resort orbiting hotel will open in 2012. The company is offering a three-night stay for €3 million. It sounds exorbitant but that price does include an eight-week training course on a tropical island and the travel on a rocket to reach the hotel which will float 280 miles above the earth. The company says that they already have 43 reservations.

The Independent reports that "an anonymous billionaire space enthusiast" has given the company more than €2 billion to finance the hotel. The hotel will rotate the earth 15 times per day offering a trip around the world in just 80 minutes. The modular space habitat willl be built around a central docking platform. Each pod has a window at the base and tourists will be experiencing weightlessness during their stay.

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Tags: galactic suite, GalacticSuite, space hotel, space tourism, space travel, SpaceHotel, SpaceTourism, SpaceTravel

Abu Dhabi Sheikh Invests In Branson's Space Tourism Project

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

Last time I wrote about Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan he was flying horses to Abu Dhabi. He's in the news again with a big purchase. The Telegraph reports that he has bought a 32 percent stake in Richard Branson's space tourism project, Virgin Galactic ,for $280 million. The deal, which was done through the sheikh's company Aabar, puts the value of Virgin Galactic at $900 million even though it hasn't begun to offer flights yet. The deal represents a significant vote for the viability and inevitable profitability of space travel. This deal means that Abu Dhabi will be hosting Virgin Galactic tourism and research flights. There is also a plan to build spaceport facilities in Abu Dhabi. Meanwhile Sir Richard Branson is showing off the WhiteKnightTwo (VMS Eve), at the Experimental Aircraft Association's 2009 AirVenture annual fly-in and convention in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The spacecraft that will carry the tourists, SpaceShipTwo, should begin testing later this year. No date for the start of commercial operations has been set yet but around 300 people have paid the $200,000 for an advance space ticket.

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Tags: abu dhabi, AbuDhabi, sheikh mansour, SheikhMansour, sir richard branson, SirRichardBranson, space tourism, SpaceTourism, virgin galactic, VirginGalactic

Will Rocketplane Bring Space Tourism To Hawaii?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Hawaii to Oahu via space? That's the potential plan being floated by Rocketplane Global which hopes to put a new spin on island hopping. The flight offers a different view of our planet than other space tourism take-off points, showcasing the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. At a time when Hawaii tourism is in the doldrums the state is considering a new law authorizes the state to spend $500,000 to apply for a spaceport license from the federal government. Hawaii's governor, Linda Lingle will either sign the legislation this month or let it become law without her signature.

The program, which will take about three years to complete, would make Hawaii the eighth state with a spaceport license. Travelers would eventually pay around $200,000 for a weeklong package for training and before a flight offering a a few minutes of weightlessness 62 miles above the Earth. Several space tourism companies, including Rocketplane, have shown interest in coming to Hawaii. It makes sense to have space tourism in an an area that already has facilities for accommodating guests in place. Since the bulk of the space tourism experience involves training with the actual space flight taking very little time, travelers might be compelled to want to spend that time in scenic surroundings.

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Tags: hawaii, rocketplane, space tourism, SpaceTourism

Cirque du Soleil Billionaire Will Be Canada's First Space Tourist

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

Energetic Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte will Canada's first space tourist. Laliberte will head into space in September aboard a Soyuz rocket headed for the International Space Station. Laliberte was #269 on the Forbes billionaire list this year and has a net worth of approximately $2.5 billion. He has traveled the world with his roving troupes and has permanent shows in Las Vegas at several of the top casino resorts, Walt Disney World in Florida, and next year in Dubai.

He will spend around $35 million from his personal fortune and has been training and undergoing medical exams in Russia for the past few weeks. He plans to use his 13-day trip to space to send a message about the importance of providing access to clean water for all. He created the One Drop Foundation back in 2007. He plans to bring up a poem that he is writing with a friend and the consummate showman is planning on what he calls "an artistic production project, an original one, I hope, that will surprise, will entertain and will achieve the goal of communicating in a massive way this poem, which will be a poem to planet Earth and its inhabitants, with regard to the situation of water in the world."

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Tags: cirque du soleil, CirqueDuSoleil, guy lailberte, GuyLailberte, space tourism, space tourist, SpaceTourism, SpaceTourist

Space Is So Nice, He'll See It Twice, For Even More Money

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

Last time software mogul Charles Simonyi went into space, Martha Stewart catered his meals. This time the space tourist is paying an additional $10 million for his trip, a raise from $25 million to $35 million. Simonyi, who was the head of Microsoft's application software group, will be spending 11 days going from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. His flight is set to launch March 26 and he is scheduled to return on April 6.

Simonyi, who is now engaged, has said this will be his last flight. It will also be the last planned space tourism flight to the International Space Station for a while. Russia's space agency has said that when the International Space Station crew doubles from three members to six there will no longer be room for tourists.

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Tags: charles simonyi, CharlesSimonyi, space tourism, SpaceTourism

XCOR Aerospace Offers Space Flight At A Discount

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

The first entrant into any marketplace has the benefit of being able to set the price for the service and those that follow often need to offer a lower price. That's the case in the space tourism game, now that XCOR Aerospace is offering tickets for suborbital rides at less than half the price of main competitor Virgin Galactic. XCOR Aerospace is partnering with tour developer and operator Jules Klar, co-creator of the 1960s-era "Europe on $5 a Day" guides, to sell rides aboard its Lynx spaceship for $95,000. The two-seat Lynx craft is under development at XCOR's Mojave Desert base. Lynx passengers fly in the cockpit next to Richard Searfoss, who made three spaceflights for NASA. The company plans to be able to make up to four flights a day. Test flights are set to begin in 2010 with first paid flights as soon as early 2011.

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Tags: space flight, space tourism, SpaceFlight, SpaceTourism, xcor aerospace, xcor lynx, XcorAerospace, XcorLynx

Google Cofounder To Become Space Tourist

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has announced he'll be join the ranks of the ultra-wealthy booking a space flight. Brin's date with the sky will be in 2011 when he will be one of the passengers aboard Russian Soyuz rocket. Brin has put down a $5 million deposit with Space Adventures, a company which has already sent five tourists into space for $20 to $35 million each. Brin is the first of six founding members of an "Orbital Mission Explorers Circle" who will each contribute $5 million to pay for the company to launch its first private mission to the International Space Station. Visitors to the space station may be allowed to take their own space experiments with them.

Google has previously demonstrated an interest in space travel, funding the Google Lunar X Prize, a $25 million competition to get a spacecraft to the moon.

Tags: expire-images2009-6-12, google, sergey brin, SergeyBrin, space adventures, space tourism, SpaceAdventures, SpaceTourism

Martha Stewart, Space Caterer

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Celebrity Shopping

If you are rich, and we mean really rich, not only do you get to be one of the first people to be a space tourist, you can get Martha Stewart to cater your space meal. CNet reports that Charles Simonyi, a software pioneer who will be the fifth tourist in space, is a friend of Stewart's and he has convinced her to create a gourmet menu to feed the crew at the International Space Station. The space food is a far cry from Tang and freeze-dried ice cream. The menu includes roasted quail, duck breast confit with capers, shredded chicken parmentier, apple fondant pieces, rice pudding with candied fruit, and semolina cake with dried apricots. Simonyi will take the meal up to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA spacecraft on April 7 and the food will be prepared by Alain Ducasse's consulting and training center, ADF.

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Tags: international space station, martha stewart, space tourism, SpaceTourism

Space Adventures Plans An Arab Emirates Spaceport

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

We mentioned Space Adventures earlier for their new partnership with Prodea but they have also announced plans for a commercial spaceport in Ras Al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates as part of a plan for global spaceports in various locations. The total cost of the global spaceport development project is at least $265 million. The UAE spaceport will be located less than an hour drive from Dubai (perfect for all those luxury tourists). The development schedule hasn't been released yet.

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Tags: space adventures, space tourism, SpaceAdventures, SpaceTourism, tourism, united arab emirates

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