Tag Archives | Space Tourism

Balloon-Like Space Dwelling To Be Tested On International Space Station

By on January 17, 2013 in News 7

Reuters on the silvery space pod in which you’ll be spending future vacations:

A low-cost space dwelling that inflates like a balloon in orbit will be tested aboard the International Space Station, opening the door for commercial leases of future free-flying outposts and deep-space astronaut habitats for NASA.

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), developed by privately owned Bigelow Aerospace and about 13 feet long and 10.5 feet in diameter when inflated, is scheduled for launch in mid-2015 aboard a Space Exploration Technologies’ Dragon cargo ship, said Mike Gold, director of operations for Bigelow Aerospace.

A successful test flight on the space station would be a stepping stone for planned Bigelow-staffed orbiting outposts that the company plans to lease to research organizations, businesses and wealthy individuals wishing to vacation in orbit.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 7

Help Make A Disinfonaut An Astronaut

By on January 15, 2013 in News 1

Smelly armpit deodorising company, Lynx (or Axe as they are known outside the United Kingdom) recently launched a contest to send 22 people into space, and I want to be one of them (vote for me here).

Via Space.com:

The company today (Jan. 9) kicked off its new AXE Apollo Space Academy, an online contest that promises to send 22 winners to the edge of space and back aboard a private spaceship. The winning space travelers will launch aboard a suborbital Lynx space plane built by the U.S. company XCOR Aerospace and operated by the tourism firm Space Expedition Curacao, AXE officials said.

“Space travel for everyone is the next frontier in the human experience,” Buzz Aldrin, who became the second person ever to walk on the moon during NASA’s 1969 Apollo 11 mission in 1969, said in a statement. “I’m thrilled that AXE is giving the young people of today such an extraordinary opportunity to experience some of what I’ve encountered in space.”

The contest is open to men and women in more than 60 countries who sign up on the AXE Apollo Space Academy website (AXEApollo.com) and write about why they should be chosen to fly in space, while others will vote on the entries.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 1

Space Adventures Offers Moon Tourism At $150 Million Per Seat

By on May 13, 2011 in News 0

DeMonchaux31What are you doing this summer? Via io9:

If you’ve got a lust for space travel, a desire to go where only a couple of dozen people have gone before, and $150 million to spare, Space Adventures needs you.

The space tourism company—it’s the one that organizes the ISS trips via the Russian Soyuz—has mapped a potential tour around the moon that could lift off within five years.

The company has already secured a nine-digit commitment from one customer for a potential lunar sightseeing tour. And the logistics are already in place as well: aboard a three-seat Russian Soyuz spacecraft (the third seat is for a Russian mission commander), the tourists would launch into orbit where they would rendezvous with a separately-launched unmanned rocket, which would jet them the rest of the way to the moon.

Round trip: eight or nine days.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 0

Virgin Galactic Posts Help Wanted For Astronauts

By on April 17, 2011 in News 11

Richard Branson Justin Hyde writes for Jalopink:

With NASA mothballing shuttles, and the Soviets auctioning seats on Soyuz capsules for millions of rubles, how are spunky American pilots supposed to prove they have the right stuff? By answering a want ad for astronauts from Richard Branson.

The crazy billionaire’s space tourism business, Virgin Galactic, has posted openings for “pilot-astronauts” to begin work in June. Virgin Galactic is still doing test flights of its Burt Ruttan-designed ships, but expects to launch the first “customer-astronauts” in two years from its spaceport in New Mexico, for the everyday low price of $200,000.

Virgin Galactic wants pilot-astronauts to have a minimum of 3,000 hours of flight experience in a variety of aircraft and help set the rules for future recruits. The other big hurdle? “Prior spaceflight experience is an advantage.”

Continue Reading · 11