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The curvature of Earth seen from orbit

Space tourism is the recent phenomenon of tourists paying for flights into space. As of 2009, orbital space tourism opportunities are limited and expensive, with only the Russian Space Agency providing transport. The price for a flight brokered by Space Adventures to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft is US$20–35 million. The space tourists usually sign contracts with third parties to conduct certain research while in orbit. This helps to minimize their own expenses.

Infrastructure for a suborbital space tourism industry is being developed through the construction of spaceports in numerous locations, including California, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, Alaska, Wisconsin, Esrange in Sweden as well as the United Arab Emirates. Some use the term "personal spaceflight" as in the case of the Personal Spaceflight Federation.

A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, hoping to create a space tourism industry. For a list of such companies, and the spacecraft they are currently building, see list of space tourism companies.

Early dreams

After early successes in space, much of the public saw intensive space exploration as inevitable. Those aspirations are remembered in science fiction such as Arthur C. Clarke's A Fall of Moondust and also 2001: A Space Odyssey, Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Joanna Russ's 1968 novel Picnic on Paradise, and Larry Niven's Known Space stories. Lucian in 2 A.D. in his book True History examines the idea of a crew of men whose ship travels to the Moon during a storm. Jules Verne also took up the theme of lunar visits in his books, From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon. Robert A. Heinlein’s short story The Menace from Earth, published in 1957, was one of the first to incorporate elements of a developed space tourism industry within its framework. During the 1960s and 1970s, it was common belief that space hotels would be launched by 2000. Many futurologists around the middle of the 20th century speculated that the average family of the early 21st century would be able to enjoy a holiday on the Moon.

The end of the Space Race, however, signified by the Moon landing, decreased the emphasis placed on space exploration by national governments and therefore led to decreased demands for public funding of manned space flights.[1]

Precursors

The Soviet space program was aggressive in broadening the pool of cosmonauts. The Soviet Intercosmos program also included cosmonauts selected from Warsaw Pact members (from Czechoslovakia, Poland, East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania) and later from allies of the USSR (Cuba, Mongolia, Vietnam) and non-aligned countries (India, Syria, Afghanistan). Most of these cosmonauts received full training for their missions and were treated as equals, but especially after the Mir program began, were generally given shorter flights than Soviet cosmonauts. The European Space Agency took advantage of the program as well.

The U.S. space shuttle program included payload specialist positions which were usually filled by representatives of companies or institutions managing a specific payload on that mission. These payload specialists did not receive the same training as professional NASA astronauts and were not employed by NASA. In 1983, Ulf Merbold from ESA and Byron Lichtenberg from MIT (engineer and Air Force fighter pilot) were the first Payload Specialists to fly on the shuttle, becoming the first non-NASA astronauts. In 1984, Charlie Walker became the first non-government astronaut to fly, with his flight paid for by his employer, McDonnell Douglas. NASA was also eager to prove its capability to Congressional sponsors. Senator Jake Garn was flown on the shuttle in 1985, followed by Representative Bill Nelson (now Senator) in 1986. As the shuttle program expanded, the Teacher in Space program was developed as a way to expand publicity and educational opportunities for NASA. Christa McAuliffe would have been the first Teacher in Space, but was killed in the Challenger disaster and the program was canceled. During the same period a Journalist in Space program was frequently discussed, with individuals such as Walter Cronkite and Miles O'Brien considered front-runners, but no formal program was ever developed. McAuliffe's backup in the Teacher in Space Program, Barbara Morgan, eventually got hired in 1998 as a professional astronaut and flew on STS-118 as a mission specialist where she spoke to many students as an educator during the trip.

With the realities of the post-Perestroika economy in Russia, its space industry was especially starved for cash. The Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) offered to pay for one of its reporters to fly on a mission. For $28 million, Toyohiro Akiyama was flown in 1990 to Mir with the eighth crew and returned a week later with the seventh crew. Akiyama gave a daily TV broadcast from orbit and also performed scientific experiments for Russian and Japanese companies. However, since the cost of the flight was paid by his employer, Akiyama could be considered a business traveler rather than a tourist.

In 1991, British chemist Helen Sharman was selected from a pool of public applicants to be the first Briton in space.[2] As the United Kingdom had no human space program, the arrangement was by a consortium of private companies who contracted with the Russian space program. Sharman was also in a sense a private space traveler, but she was a working cosmonaut with a full training regimen.

Orbital space tourism

Main article: Spaceflight participant

At the end of the 1990s, MirCorp, a private venture by then in charge of the space station, began seeking potential space tourists to visit Mir in order to offset some of its maintenance costs. Dennis Tito, an American businessman and former JPL scientist, became their first candidate. When the decision to de-orbit Mir was made, Tito managed to switch his trip to the International Space Station through a deal between MirCorp and U.S.-based Space Adventures, Ltd., despite strong opposition from senior figures at NASA. Space Adventures remains the only company to have sent paying passengers to space.[3][4]

In conjunction with the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation and Rocket and Space Corporation (Energia), Space Adventures facilitated the flights for all of the world's first private space explorers. The first three participants paid in excess of $20 million (USD) each for their 10-day visit to the ISS.

On April 28, 2001, Dennis Tito became the first "fee-paying" space tourist when he visited the International Space Station (ISS) for seven days. He was followed in 2002 by South African computer millionaire Mark Shuttleworth. The third was Gregory Olsen in 2005, who was trained as a scientist and whose company produced specialist high-sensitivity cameras. Olsen planned to use his time on the ISS to conduct a number of experiments, in part to test his company's products. Olsen had planned an earlier flight, but had to cancel for health reasons.

After the Columbia disaster, space tourism on the Russian Soyuz program was temporarily put on hold, because Soyuz vehicles became the only available transport to the ISS. However, in 2006, space tourism was resumed. On September 18, 2006, Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian American (Soyuz TMA-9), became the fourth space tourist (she prefers spaceflight participant). On April 7, 2007, Charles Simonyi, an American billionaire of Hungarian descent, joined their ranks (Soyuz TMA-10).

In 2003, NASA and the Russian Space Agency agreed to use the term 'Spaceflight Participant' to distinguish those space travelers from astronauts on missions coordinated by those two agencies. Tito, Shuttleworth, Olsen, Ansari, and Simonyi were designated as such during their respective space flights.[5] NASA also lists Christa McAuliffe as a "Space Flight Participant" (although she did not pay a fee), apparently due to her non-technical duties aboard the STS-51-L flight.

List of flown space tourists

Space tourist Mark Shuttleworth

Seven of the space tourists flew to and from the International Space Station on Soyuz spacecraft through the space tourism company, Space Adventures:[6]

Space tourist Nationality Year Duration of flight Flight
Dennis Tito American 2001 9 days (Apr 28 – May 6) Launch: Soyuz TM-32
Return: Soyuz TM-31
Mark Shuttleworth South African / British 2002 11 days (Apr 25 – May 5) Launch: Soyuz TM-34
Return: Soyuz TM-33
Gregory Olsen American 2005 11 days (Oct 1 – Oct 11) Launch: Soyuz TMA-7
Return: Soyuz TMA-6
Anousheh Ansari Iranian / American 2006 12 days (Sept 18 – Sept 29) Launch: Soyuz TMA-9
Return: Soyuz TMA-8
Charles Simonyi[7] Hungarian / American 2007 15 days (Apr 7 – Apr 21) Launch: Soyuz TMA-10
Return: Soyuz TMA-9
2009 14 days (Mar 26 – Apr 8) Launch: Soyuz TMA-14
Return: Soyuz TMA-13
Richard Garriott[8] American / British 2008 12 days (Oct 12 – Oct 23) Launch: Soyuz TMA-13
Return: Soyuz TMA-12
Guy Laliberté Canadian 2009 12 days (Sept 30 – Oct 11) Launch: Soyuz TMA-16
Return: Soyuz TMA-14

Note that Senator Jake Garn, Representative Bill Nelson and teacher Christa McAuliffe can be considered to have flown as "tourists" on the shuttle, though these three were not charged any fare.

Suborbital flights

More affordable suborbital space tourism is viewed as a money-making proposition by several other companies, including Space Adventures, Virgin Galactic, Starchaser, Blue Origin, Armadillo Aerospace, XCOR Aerospace, Rocketplane Limited, the European "Project Enterprise",[9] and others. Most are proposing vehicles that make suborbital flights peaking at an altitude of 100-160 kilometres.[10] Passengers would experience three to six minutes of weightlessness, a view of a twinkle-free starfield, and a vista of the curved Earth below. Projected costs are expected to be about $200,000 per passenger.[11][12][13][14][15]

As of November 2007 Virgin Galactic had pre-sold nearly 200 seats for their suborbital space tourism flights, according to the company's president.[16]

The X Prize

The X-Prize being awarded to the Scaled Composites team

On October 4, 2004, the SpaceShipOne, designed by Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites, won the $10,000,000 X Prize, which was designed to be won by the first private company who could reach and surpass an altitude of 62 miles (100 km) twice within two weeks. The altitude is beyond the Kármán Line, the arbitrarily defined boundary of space.[17] The first flight was flown by Michael Melvill on June 21, 2004 to a height of 62 miles, making him the first commercial astronaut.[18] The prize-winning flight was flown by Brian Binnie, which reached a height of 69.6 miles, breaking the X-15 record.[17]

Virgin Galactic

Main article: Virgin Galactic
File:Spaceship One in flight 1.jpg
Spaceship One, the first privately funded and constructed spacecraft to fly above the 100 km Karman Line.

Virgin Galactic, one of the leading potential space tourism groups, is planning to begin passenger service aboard the VSS Enterprise, a Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo type spacecraft. The initial seat price will be $200,000, but that price is expected to eventually fall to $20,000. To date, over two hundred people have made down payments on bookings. Headed by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, Virgin Galactic hopes to be the first private space tourism company to regularly send civilians into space. A citizen astronaut will only require three days of training before spaceflight. SpaceShipTwo will be a scaled up version of SpaceShipOne, the spacecraft which claimed the Ansari X Prize. Both spacecraft were designed by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites. Launches will initially occur at the Mojave Spaceport in California, and will then be moved to Spaceport America in Upham, New Mexico. Tourists will also be flown from Kiruna, Sweden[19] The spacecraft will travel 360,000 feet (109.73 km/68.18 miles) high. This goes beyond the internationally defined boundary between Earth and space of 100 km. Spaceflights will last 2.5 hours, carry 6 passengers, and reach a speed of Mach 3. SpaceShipTwo will not require a space shuttle-like heat shield for atmospheric reentry as it will not experience the extreme aerodynamic heating experienced during reentry at orbital velocities (approximately Mach 22.5 at a typical shuttle altitude of 300 km, or 185 miles).[20] The glider will employ a "feathering" technique to manage drag during the unpowered descent and landing. SpaceShipTwo will use a single hybrid rocket motor to launch from mid-air after detaching from a mother ship at 50,000 feet, instead of NASA's space shuttle's ground-based launch.

Project Enterprise

Project Enterprise was launched by the German TALIS Institute in 2004 and is the first project of its kind in Europe.[21] The goal is to develop a rocket-propelled spaceplane by 2011 that will carry one pilot and up to five passengers into suborbital space. The plane will launch from the ground using rockets, and will return in an unpowered flight like Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. The prototypes and finished spaceplane will be launched from an airport near Cochstedt (Germany; Saxony-Anhalt).

Since 2004, the TALIS Institute has gained many industrial partners, including XtremeAir,[22] who will manufacture the airframe, and Swiss Propulsion Laboratory SPL,[23] who will deliver the propulsion components. XtremeAir is known for their acrobatic airplanes, and SPL has designed and tested liquid propellant rocket engines since 1998.

Current work is focusing on the first prototype, the "Black Sky": An existing acrobatic airplane that would be fitted with a single rocket engine and a new wing. The rocket engine is expected to deliver a thrust of 10 kN. The test program for this engine started in 2007 at SPL and is expected to fly by 2010.[24][25]

Legality

United States

In December 2005, the U.S. Government released a set of proposed rules for space tourism.[26] These included screening procedures and training for emergency situations, but not health requirements.

Under current US law, any company proposing to launch paying passengers from American soil on a suborbital rocket must receive a license from the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST). The licensing process focuses on public safety and safety of property, and the details can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 14, Chapter III.[27] This is in accordance with the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act passed by Congress in 2004.[28]

Orbital flights, space stations and space hotels

  • EADS Astrium, a subsidiary of European aerospace giant EADS, announced its space tourism project on June 13, 2007.[29]
  • SpaceX is a private space company which is developing their own rocket family called Falcon and a capsule named Dragon, capable of sending up to 7 people to any space station, either ISS or a possible station by Bigelow Aerospace. Falcon 1 has already undertaken testflights and successfully completed its first commercial flight on July 14, 2009, deploying the Malaysian RazakSAT into orbit. Falcon 9 (which will be the rocket for the Dragon capsule) is currently in vertical position at Space Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral, and will make its first testflight in late 2009.[citation needed] An initial prototype of the Dragon capsule is expected to be used on this test flight; SpaceX anticipates that Dragon could be qualified for human spaceflight within 3 years of the receipt of NASA CCDV funding.[30]
  • Space Adventures Ltd. have also announced that they are working on circumlunar missions to the moon, with the price per passenger being $100,000,000.[31] They are currently developing spaceports at the United Arab Emirates (Ras al-Khaimah) and in Singapore.[needs update]
  • Orbital space tourist flights are also being planned[when?] by Excalibur Almaz, using modernized TKS space capsules.[32]

Several plans have been proposed for using a space station as a hotel.[33] American motel tycoon Robert Bigelow has acquired the designs for inflatable space habitats from the Transhab program abandoned by NASA. His company, Bigelow Aerospace, has already launched two first inflatable habitat modules. The first, named Genesis I, was launched 12 July 2006. The second test module, Genesis II, was launched 28 June 2007. Both Genesis habitats remain in orbit as of mid-2009. As of 2006, Bigelow planned to officially launch the first commercial space station by 2012 (tagged Nautilus) which will have 330 cubic meters (almost as big as the ISS's 425 cubic meters of usable volume).[34][35]

Bigelow Aerospace is currently offering the America's Space Prize, a $50 million prize to the first US company to create a reusable spacecraft capable of carrying passengers to a Nautilus space station.[citation needed]

Other companies have also expressed interest in constructing "space hotels". For example, Excalibur Almaz plans to modernize and launch its Soviet-era Almaz space stations, which will feature the largest windows ever on spacecraft.[citation needed] Virgin's Richard Branson has expressed his hope for the construction of a space hotel within his lifetime. He expects that beginning a space tourism program will cost $100 million.[11] Hilton International announced the Space Islands Project, a plan to connect together used space shuttle fuel tanks, each the diameter of a Boeing 747 aircraft.[36] A separate organization, Space Island Group[37] announced their distinct Space Island Project (note the singular "Island"), and plans on having 20,000 people on their "space island" by 2020, with the number of people doubling for each decade.[38] British Airways has expressed interest in the venture. If and when Space Hotels develop, it would initially cost a passenger $60,000, with prices lowering over time.[39]

Fashion designer Eri Matsui has designed clothing, including a wedding gown, intended to look best in weightless environments.[citation needed]

Advocacy, education, and industry organizations

Several organizations have been formed to promote the space tourism industry, including the Space Tourism Society, and others.[40][41][42] More information about the future of Space Tourism can be found at Space Tourism Lecture, which is a free online Space Tourism Lecture handout collection. Since 2003 Dr. Robert A. Goehlich and Pierluigi Polignano teaches the world's first and only Space Tourism class at Keio University, Yokohama, Japan. UniGalactic Space Travel Magazine is a bi-monthly educational publication covering space tourism and space exploration developments in companies like SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, Virgin Galactic and organizations like NASA. The content of UniGalactic Space Travel Magazine can be found on UniGalactic web site.

Opinions of commercial space tourism

A web-based survey suggested that over 70% of those surveyed wanted less than or equal to 2 weeks in space; in addition, 88% wanted to spacewalk (only 74% of these would do it for a 50% premium), and 21% wanted a hotel or space station.[43]

The concept has met with some criticism from social commentators and politicians, notably Günter Verheugen, vice-president of the European Commission, who said of the EADS Astrium Space Tourism Project "It's only for the super rich, which is against my social convictions".[44]

Objection to "Space Tourist" terminology

Further information: Astronaut § Terminology

Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Gregory Olsen, Anousheh Ansari and Richard Garriott have all preferred to be called something other than "space tourist". In each case, they explained their preferences by pointing out that they carried out scientific experiments as part of their journey; Garriott additionally emphasized their training is identical to requirements of non-Russian cosmonauts, and that teachers or other citizens chosen to fly with NASA are called astronauts.[45] Tito has asked to be known as an "independent researcher".[citation needed] Shuttleworth proposed "pioneer of commercial space travel".[46] Olsen preferred "private researcher."[47] Ansari prefers the term "private space explorer".[48] Garriott prefers "cosmonaut" or "astronaut", but will accept "private" in front of either. Alone among those who have paid to go to orbit so far, Charles Simonyi seems to have no concerns about calling it "space tourism", even in reference to his own experience. Asked in an interview "Do you foresee a day when space tourism is not just the province of billionaires - when it will be as affordable as plane travel?", he did not object to the implicit categorization of his own trip, but rather answered "Yes, the only question is when ...."[49]

Although many space enthusiasts subscribe to the notion of space tourism as a potential burgeoning industry that could further the development and settlement of space, some of these same enthusiasts object to the use of the term "space tourist". Rick Tumlinson of the Space Frontier Foundation, for example, has said

"I hate the word tourist, and I always will .... 'Tourist' is somebody in a flowered shirt with three cameras around his neck."[50]

Others with perhaps less enthusiasm for space development seem to agree. Alex Tabarrok has categorized it as a kind of "adventure travel". The mere fact of people paying for a travel experience does not, in his view, make that activity "tourism". Oxford dictionary are considering entering the word Touronaut as the new word to describe a space tourist[citation needed].

"At best and for the foreseeable future space travel will remain akin to climbing Everest, dangerous and uncommon. Yes, we might see 100 flights a year but that's not space tourism - tourism is fat guys with cameras."[51]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Space: the forgotten frontier?". 2003-03-01. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ "1991: Sharman becomes first Briton in space]". 1991-05-18. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ "Int'l space station ticket price climbs". AP.
  4. ^ Boyle, Alan (June 13, 2006). "Regulators OK Oklahoma spaceport - Suborbital test flights could begin in 2007, setting stage for tourists". MSNBC. Retrieved 2006-06-26.
  5. ^ "Payload Specialist Astronauts". Retrieved 2007-05-20.
  6. ^ howstuffworks.com. "How Space Tourism Works".
  7. ^ Charles in Space Charles Simonyi's blog and video blog about his trip to the ISS
  8. ^ NASA (2008). "Expedition 18". NASA. Retrieved September 26 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  9. ^ "Project Enterprise". Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  10. ^ "Scotland 2040: Spaceships head for Moon with lunar golfers and crater ramblers aboard". 2006-10-12. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. ^ a b "British tycoon wants to fly you to space: Virgin Galactic plans to sell $200,000 rides". 2004-09-28. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. ^ "X PRIZE Foundation".
  13. ^ "Space Adventures".
  14. ^ "Zero Gravity Corporation".
  15. ^ The Last Frontier Of Tourism (article by Stefan Tiron, published by monochrom)
  16. ^ "Spaceflights now for sale; scary part is price". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. November 14, 2007.
  17. ^ a b SpaceShipOne Captures X-PrizeOctober 4, 2004 Cite error: The named reference "Xprize1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  18. ^ SpaceShipOne pilot bio: Michael W. Melvill May 2005
  19. ^ [1] — see also Spaceport Sweden
  20. ^ "Flight to Orbit". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  21. ^ european-spacetourism.eu. "Project Enterprise" (in German). european-spacetourism.eu. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  22. ^ "Project Enterprise - XtremeAir". Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  23. ^ "Project Enterprise - Swiss Propulsion Laboratory SPL". Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  24. ^ Die Top Ten der privaten Raumfahrt (2) (German)
  25. ^ Project Enterprise new debut
  26. ^ US draws up space tourism rules
  27. ^ "Electronic Code of Federal Regulations". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  28. ^ "Congress Passes Space Tourism Bill". 2004-12-23. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  29. ^ Europe joins space tourism race, Times online, June 10, 2007
  30. ^ Official SpaceX Updates, Update from 2009-09-23.
  31. ^ "$100 Million Moon Trip: Space Tourism's Hot Ticket?". 2005-08-10. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  32. ^ http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0908/18almaz/
  33. ^ "Space hotels".
  34. ^ "A Room with a View of Mars, Please". 2006-10-06. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  35. ^ "An interview with Michael Gold about Bigelow Aerospace".
  36. ^ "Hilton to back space hotel". 1999-03-09. Retrieved 2007-05-20.
  37. ^ "The Space Island Group's Mission". 2006. Retrieved 2007-05-20.
  38. ^ "http://www.spaceislandgroup.com/sig-vision.html". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); External link in |title= (help)
  39. ^ "Space Future - Prospects of Space Tourism]". 1996=05-15. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  40. ^ Space Tourism Society
  41. ^ "Space Future Journal".
  42. ^ "Space Tourism: Personal Spaceflight for you ..." {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  43. ^ "http://www.space.com/news/061003_tourism_survey.html". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); External link in |title= (help)
  44. ^ EU official balks at space tourism, 2007-06-15{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link).
  45. ^ "Do Not Call Me A Space Tourist". Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  46. ^ ""Space tourist" insists on pioneering role". New Scientist. Retrieved 2008-05-03.
  47. ^ "Space millionaire to mix science with pleasure publisher= MSNBC". Retrieved 2008-06-03. {{cite web}}: Missing pipe in: |title= (help)
  48. ^ "www.anoushehansari.com". Retrieved 2006-09-22.
  49. ^ Arango, Tim (2007-05-25). "From the Iron Curtain to the Final Frontier". Fortune magazine. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
  50. ^ Foust, Jeff. "Is it time to dump the t-word?". Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  51. ^ Tabarrok, Alex. "Romance and Realism in Space Tourism". Retrieved 2008-06-03.

External links

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