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An Anonymous Coward writes "Forget Tito. Forget Shuttleworth. Private space travel is now a reality, now that eBay is accepting bids for travel to the International Space Station. I consider this a milestone for space travel, now that the average citizen-next-door can bid for a ticket as easily as buying, er, crap on eBay." Actually it appears that this is just the pre-flight stuff required prior to a trip - Note: Soyuz tickets sold separately, may involve a small added expense, if you get my drift.
The real milestone is when tickets are listed on Travelocity. JFK->ISS, non-stop, no smoking, snack only.
My favorite is how USAIR (US Airways) has already started advertising trips to space. You can either win a trip to space or redeem 10,000,000 frequent flier miles for one. I can't wait to see where this goes!
No way they'd touch an auction from someone with zero feedback =)
Seriously though, that looks interesting, but I wonder how it will pan out for the winner. Hope he speaks Russian.
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
After a lot of Ebay deals gone sour, I've got a personal rule: never purchase from a seller with zero feedback. After they've sold at least a couple dozen of these, then I might reconsider. Heh.
What's your damage, Heather?
Current price as of 9:03 EST:
US $56,600.00 (reserve not yet met)
:D
My other sig is funny!
..., you know, that N*Sync guy.
--- There isn't any problem that can't be solved by a small, low yield nuclear device, is there??
OK all you "geeks in power"... time to get the senat's and everyone elses attention.
Shut down the fricking internet backbone., shut down the root dns servers, and the backbone routers. I know you guys can easily do it, hell the largest amount of you touch the physical devices every day. Unplug the damned things at work, command the cisco routers to shutdown, or simply unplug the Fiber connections.
WE can effectively do two things at once....
1 - teach employers world wide that we can unionize.
2 - teach the governments that they really aren't in power.
but what will this do? Knowing the track record of the US government and what that scumbag Regan did to the Air traffic controllers....
Oh well, we dont have the balls to do it anyways..
and they know that.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The final medical examinations and qualification procedures will be physically and mentally demanding, but if you pass. Anyone else feel confident risking their life in space with a company that can't even proofread their auctions?
Heh, heh... ;-)
They're at $56.600 at the moment and it still states "reserve not yet met".
I wonder what they are expecting people to pay for this. They started the auction at $1, so I also wonder what their target audience is when the reserve is more than 50K bucks... I mean, eBay isn't exactly the place known for its stone rich audience.
Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?
If I read this correctly this is _NOT_ a ticket to space - This is a ticket to the "International Space Station (ISS) Experience" - sort of like a disneyland ride... The ticket is for the, quote, "Orbital Pre-Qualification Program" - Read it. It looks fun though, if a bit expensive...
Any technology distinguishable from magic, is insufficiently advanced.
For Sale: Mir Space Station
Slightly burnt due to re-entry but still salvageable at the bottom of the ocean. Slightly fire damaged. Buyer pays postage and launch costs. Be the envy of the world - own a second-hand space station today! Starting price: 1 rouble.
Video Game cheats, hints a
Greetings, American infidels! I am looking forward to the day when I may martyr myself for the great Allah, by flying a shuttle into the International Space Station.
The auction looks like a publicity stunt. It'll be less expensive advertising contacting the who's who directly and selling tickets.
With profound apologies to whomsoever this sig originally belonged.
Unfortunately, at $20 million a trip, the average citizen-next-door will only be able to bid, never win...
Color me suspicious but I'm not about to give out personal id and banking information to a group in Russia whom I've never heard of. The last time I saw a similar request it was to help out a Nigerian clerk who knew where there was a stash of cash and he wanted to park it in my bank account.
Apparently, they don't wany any of the current college student, future astronauts to take this on. No way anyone in college could afford it.
I believe that the existence of women is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy
I love this reason given for a retracted bid:
wrong auction sorry.. thought it was for the other space trip
To follow the true path to space you must not be mislead by false hippocracy such as this eBay conspiracy. The true path lies in pioneering. Look at the golden carrot from the x-prize and true seekers of enlightment such as the armadillos and the canadian arrow. True pioneers to space.
Look a monkey!
I find it Ironic that the Russians are the curent/firsts leader in Commerical Space flight. Basicly because a decade ago they were still a Comunist Nation and everything is supported by the goverment and a vacation in space would not be funded by private indrustry. And was beleaved that America will be the first to comericalize space. But now the American Space Launches are still controled by the government.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
You've got to love this quote from the eBay info:
Day Two: Driving tour of the major highlights of Moscow. After lunch you'll travel to Star City for a tour of the Yuri Garaging Cosmonaut Training Center, and begin the program.
...and never purchase from anyone without feedback. How are people suppose to receive feedback then? ;-)
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
I'm a little concerned that the people. Who will send me to space. Haven't mastered where to place a period. I'd be bummed out if they accidently launched me into the wrong orbit and killed me because of a misplaced decimal point...
They have the Internet on computers now?
When I was a kid, I signed my name and address in a book at t the Hayden Planetarium in New York indicating that I was interested in being a passenger on the first commercial passenger flight into space (or possibly to the Moon, I forget which).
I wonder if they still have that list? I wonder if they maintain it? I wonder what the names on a mailing list of "middle-aged geeks interested in being space tourists" are worth?
I wonder if I need to contact them and ask to have my name removed?
I wonder what sort of junk mail I can expect to get if I don't?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
"The real milestone is when tickets are listed on Travelocity. JFK->ISS, non-stop, no smoking, ..."
I am a smoker and I can tell you, you don't have to ask anymore for smoking or no smoking. They are _all_ no smoking.
From the ebay page:
Day Two: Driving tour of the major highlights of Moscow. After lunch you'll travel to Star City for a tour of the Yuri Garaging Cosmonaut Training Center, and begin the program.
Who is Yuri Garaging? I'm familiar with the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center and its namesake's accomplishments, but if they are sending you to some other place I suggest you stay away from these people.
Wheeeee
Trade in your US Airways Dividend Miles for the trip. It's on their website at http://www.usairways.com
Experience is what you get when you are expecting something else.
"Straddling the sword of technology..."
i hope the food is better than what they usually serve on planes
I am unique, just like you, and you, and you...
According to this list, airport code ISS corresponds to Wiscasset, ME. I wasn't able to get a quote from expedia or travelocity though.
Huh? Window or you'll... what? ;)
or...
I didn't want the Windows seat for a space flight my insurance won't cover it
Not surprising, since russians are cash-starved & they do have a good space & military infrastructure. So, they are putting this infrastructure to any venture that fetches them the dough. BTW, I think uzbekistan allows you to fly a sukhoi for a hefty sum.
I have like a dozen feedback, all by buying stuff. So... that'd work.
Do you as well find it ironic that the Russians were the first to launch a satellite, an animal, a man into space, the first to have a man exit the spaceship, the first to have a woman to do the same, the first to send a probe to the Moon?
Get a clue.
We know that the russians have traditionally been leaders in space (you missed first space station - saylut, and longest space flight, to name but two), he was finding the unusual reversal of public/private funds fueling innovation and growth.
The real milestone is when tickets are listed on Travelocity. JFK->ISS, non-stop, no smoking, snack only.
No, what's happening today are the milestones. Tickets on travelocity are the stuff of boredom.
I can picture Michael witnessing the Wright Brothers first flight and saying "heck, the real milestone will be when I can buy cheap tickets for a transatlantic flight".
Just a pet peeve...
It's interesting that /. completely ignored the world's second space tourist, and the first African in space. South African .com millionare Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Thawte, and who lists /., Linux and Mozilla among his favourite things, spent 11 days is space, from the 25th of April to the 5th of May.
Guess the integrity of /. is so high that $20 million can't even buy you a story...
Regards,
-Jeremy
Did anyone notice that spelling errors abound in this "auction"? For crying out loud, they spelled Yuri Gagarin's name wrong! "Yuri Garaging"? WTF is that? "And various Hypobaric Altitude chamber tests"...it's spelled "Hyperbaric", dumbass.
Since the auctioneer can't even spell correctly, do you (a) really believe this is genuine or (b) would you trust someone to shoot you into space if they can't spell correctly? Even if the writer was Russian, don't you think they would've at least run it through a spellchecker first?
In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
http://www.spaceadventures.com/orbital/index.html
It does indeed take all the fun out of it.
Scroll down to the bottom. (Couldn't resist, sorry!)
Current Price as of 8:11pm PST:
US $1,000,300.00 (reserve not yet met)
wow.
all i can say is
wow.
At some point in the future, space flight may be so regular and under-control that anyone can be strapped in and shot "like spam in a can" into space. For the time being there are some strict criteria for who should be put inot 'the can' and sent up, and lots of cash isn't one of them.
There's a retracted bid that says "$20,000,000 reserve? Ouch!" Assuming that really is the reserve (which he could have guessed by bidding/see if reserve is met/retracting) then that's outrageous. You don't even get to go to the stupid ISS!!!
The current high bidder is px21, and his eBay profile page says he's in high school. I'm in high school, and my current mode of transportation (my car) cost approximately 300 bucks. Damn.
I belong to the ______ generation.