Curiosity grows in outer space travel and leisure as competitor lowers cost

Joyrides in outer space are no more a remote possi-bility, as a result of the landmark Oct. 11 test flight of Virgin Ga-lactic’s commercial spacecraft. Virgin Galactic won’t hold a monopoly on space tourism. Competition will come from Space Adventures, a business marketing seats on a new capsule being developed by Boeing. Technological advances and the prospect of competition in the marketplace are driving down space travel and leisure prices even before the first flight has been launched.

Space virgins no longer

Space tourism got a major shot in the arm when Virgin Galactic completed a flaw-less test flight of VSS Enterprise, the first manned commercial spacecraft. According to CNN, Virgin Galactic is ahead of every-one else. The first commercial spaceflight line will like-ly come from them. The business has collected 370 customer deposits for the $200,000 flight totaling $50 million. Outer space Adventures is marketing a price of $102,000. That means they can be the biggest space vacation competitors for Virgin. You are able to get a ride on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft including a few days at the international space station. Of course, you’d have to pay $40 million for this package.

More competitors for space tourism

The Boeing Company has been involved in spaceflight for several decades. Space Adventures and Boeing are working together for making space tourism possible. The plans are to use the Boeing Crew Space Transportation-100, or CST-100, for the flights. The original intention of the CST-100 had been to get astronauts to the in-ternational space station easily. It was not meant for anything else. Outer space Adventures can be in charge of booking the seats. This will give private individuals rides. There is room for seven individuals on the CST-100. It can be put on numerous rockets too. 2015 is the year Boeing plans to have the spacecraft ready. Then even you are able to catch a ride up.

Stay away from gaining weight however eating a ton

A Russian businessman plans to build the first space hotel by 2016. According to the Associated Press, Sergei Kostenko is the CEO of Orbital Technologies. He plans to have a pri-vate hotel that seven individuals can be able to stay in. This hotel in outer space will be “designed specifically for tourists” says Orbital Technologies. There won’t be scientific equipment in it making it more comfortable than the international outer space station. Celeb chefs would be responsible for the meals. A zero gravity dining experience is possible.

Citations

CNN

cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/10/15/space.tourism/index.html?npt=NP1

Seattle PI

blog.seattlepi.com/airlinereporter/archives/221874.asp

Associated Press

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