Ioonos

Space tourism: let’s get down to business!

On June 13rd, the European company EADS Astrium* unveiled its space tourism project, which will compete with the project of the UK’s Richard Branson and his company, Virgin Galactic. Space, the new fashionable destination? Your dream can come true…

Tourism?

Space tourists are a species about to appear: so far there have only been five to have tasted the pleasure of Weightlessness" >weightlessness* without being an astronaut. Yet they still had to do long training (on average one year) and they all went for a short stay on the International Space Station*, with an all-inclusive price for the ticket of between $20 – 25 million.
Today there is a different offer from both EADS Astrium and from Virgin Galactic, the British company set up by Richard Branson: a ticket costing around $200,000, short flights, minimum preparation and just a few minutes of Weightlessness" >weightlessness!

Getting closer to the stars

Just imagine for a moment that you are one of the passengers on the way to space, on board the new EADS Astrium space vehicle.
A few days before lift-off, you arrive at a centre designed to receive tourists like you. There you get to know the fun of Weightlessness" >weightlessness, you master the key moments of lift-off and of your upcoming flight, you mix with astronauts and you live a dream…
When the great day arrives, with three other passengers and a pilot you go on board a strange vehicle, half rocket and half plane, which takes off like an aircraft from a spaceport. And then you are off for two and a half hours of unique sensations! If the force of propulsion pushes you back in your seat on take-off, the Weightlessness" >weightlessness will then free you from your shackles. For a few minutes you will float 100 km above Earth.
Space is black like you have never seen it, looking through giant portholes, and infinity looks down on you from the night of space. And down below, on your planet Earth, whose curvature you can make out, you can see the shapes of the continents, and the land and oceans are clearly visible. You photograph the view, which will forever remain engraved in your mind.

A view of the future

Obviously that’s a dream. Space tourism, which should start happening around 2012, remains very expensive and reserved just for an elite. But we can bet that like once the first tourists who crossed the Atlantic by plane, the space tourists will be opening up the way for the many!