Space Tourism

What is Space Tourism?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/?id=11881780&q=space%20tourism&p=1&st=1&sm=user

 

Most people by now have heard of space tourism. It is the notion that outer space is a place for laypeople (non astronauts) to visit and enjoy. This includes parabolic and suborbital flights, going into orbit (like the international space stations), or traveling to asteroids, The Moon, Mars or elsewhere. Regarding this concept, there are three stages spoken of:

 

·        Suborbital day trips (joyrides)

·        Short stays in space-based facilities (low Earth orbit)

·        Longer stays in space – further into space or on other celestial bodies

 

Space tourism is not a new concept, but has been around since the 1950s, or before. It was ignored until recently. There are many websites, books and articles on space tourism. For more information see www.spacefuture.com/tourism/timeline.shtml

  

Will It Happen? Who Will Pay?

Space tourism has already been initiated by private companies. Space tourism is estimated to be a 10 billion dollars per year industry. Many people have expressed an interest in traveling to space. Surveys indicate that these people would visit space it given the opportunity. This is something new. There was a time when space travel was exclusively seen as being for astronauts only. Not anymore. Dennis Tito went down in history as the world's first private space tourist in 2001. Mark Shuttlesworth was the second. Several others have followed.

Several companies provide prviate trips to space. This industry is changing rapidly. So far, they include the following:

Space Adventures

http://www.spaceadventures.com/

Virgin Galactic

http://www.virgingalactic.com

Closely linked to space tourism is the X Prize Competition - the private spaceship transportation competition which has ignited the design and testing of new types of space ships. Several companies are involved in this competition. For more information on companies involved and the status of spaceship development see the following:

X Prize Foundation and the Ansari X Prize

http://www.xprize.org/

To learn more about space tourism see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tourism.

 

To view videos "The New Space TouristsThe New Space Tourists" and "Virgin Galactic: Let The Journey Begin"on private space tourism go to http://www.space.com/php/video.

 

 

Eliminating the giggle factor . . . creating a public awareness and excitement about outer space development.

New Actors

 

New actors are playing key roles in triggering the commercial and private development of new space industries. New relationships are forming as well.

 

For example Volvo Cars of North America have teamed up with Virgin Galactic - lesser known than Virgin Airlines.  During the Super Bowl (2005) Volvo aired an advertisement announcing it will give away a chance to win a seat on the world's first commercial passenger-carrying spaceship. The 30-second ad made a comparison between Volvo's new XC90 V8 SUV and a rocket blasting into outer space.

 

The billionaire entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson, founder and chairperson of the Virgin Group of Companies, reveals his face towards the end of the commercial. Virgin Galactic is planning its debut as the "world's first commercial space tourism operator in the next two to three years".[1] Volvo is having a give away whereby "aspiring astronauts" can compete for a chance to win a seat on Sir Richard's flight by logging onto http://www.boldlygo.com. The winner will be announced on March 27, 2005 at the New York International Auto Show. The seat and the sub-orbital flight and three days of pre-flight training is $200,000[2]. Branson's "Virgin company plans to launch commercial space flights over the next few years"[3]. Sir Richard revealed these plans for a new space tourism venture to the Royal Aeronautical Society in London in September, 2004[4]

 

CNN reported that Richard Branson had announced that Virgin signed a deal with Mojave Aerospace Ventures, which is owned by entrepreneur Paul Allen, Microsoft's co-founder. Allen funded the SpaceShipOne project (a private manned space program) which was designed by Burt Rutan and built by Scaled Composites. SpaceDev developed the hybrid rocket technology used on the SpaceShipOne spacecraft; it uses "Plexiglas™ and Laughing Gas (nitrous oxide) for propellants. This is produces a small, powerful motor that can go from 0 to over 3,000 miles per hour in less than four minutes"[5]. It is also important to note that SpaceDev's founding Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jim Benson, was appointed to the California Space Authority Board of Directors in January, 2005.

 

The California Space Authority, Inc., a "nonprofit corporation representing the commercial, civil, and national defense/homeland security interests of California's diverse space enterprise community in four domains: industry, government, academia, and the workforce.

 

Another key entrepreneur, Jim Benson, the founder of an innovative space solutions company,  has been advocating the importance of a stronger commercial presence in space for years[6]." Benson has been credited for being the one who "started the trend of successful computer entrepreneurs moving into the space development arena", and as having a "long-term vision of building private sector exploration and profitable economic development of space, he has brought to this challenge the fast-moving entrepreneurial development style, which characterized the microcomputer revolution"[7].

 

As another example, another computer industry entrepreneur, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, has "been laboring in secret at his Seattle headquarters on a space-related project known only as Blue Origin" (see http://www.spacedaily.com/news/tourism-05b.html)..

 

[1]  See "Volvo and Virgin Galactic Team Up in Space" (February 4, 2005)see http://www.spacedaily.com/news/tourism-05d.html.

[2]  Id.

[3]  See Associated Press release (September 27, 2004) "Virgin Galactic to Offer Public Space Flights" at http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/virgin_space_040927.html.

[4]  See "Virgin Boss in Space Tourism Bid: Virgin Boss Sir Richard Branson Has Signed a L14m Agreement Which Will See His Company Take Passengers into Space" BBC News, World Edition (September 27, 2004).

[5]  SpaceDev press release, "SpaceShipOne: History's First Private Manned Space Program" at http://www.spacedev.com/newsite/templates/subpage3_article.php?pid=411&subNav=11&subSel=3

[6]  See SpaceDev press release on January 24, 2005, "SpaceDev CEO Joins California Space Authority Board of Directors" at http://www.spacedev.com/newsite/templates/subpage_article.php?pid=505.

[7]  Id.

   

Contact Me for more information and consultations.

The space tourism industry is connected to the burgeoning commercial spaceport business. These are two industries that only an elite few know about.

____________________

Dr. Edythe E. Weeks, Esq.

Independent Scholar and Researcher

Adjunct Faculty and Coordinator of International Relations Online Program

International Politics, Space Law Politics and Race/Ethnic Relations

Department of History, Politics and International Relations

Webster University Worldwide

H. Samuel Priest Center for International Studies

Webster Groves, MO 63119

United States of America

email: EdytheWeeks59@webster.edu

phone: US + 314.968.3982

website: http://sites.google.com/site/outerspacedevelopment/

© 2007 E.E. Weeks. OuterSpaceDevelopment. All Rights Reserved.