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Tourist-Class Soyuz Spacecraft Seats Open
brandido writes "Put another notch in the belt for space tourism - Space.com is reporting that: "If you're looking for the ultimate in get-up-and go, take note: Tourist-class seats will be available on a Soyuz spacecraft bound for the International Space Station in 2004-2005. This off-planet trek comes courtesy of a deal struck between Space Adventures, a U.S. adventure travel firm, Russia's RSC Energia and the Russian Space Agency (Rosoviakosmos)." However, NASA has yet to be officially notified or to give formal approval, so there are still some speed bumps in the road map."
There's one problem and everyone freaks out (shuttle disaster) and there's a stop to everything for a while until it all settles down. After that, everything returns to normal.
:)
Space travel is dangerous. Explosions WILL happen. Review of procedures should be constant and thorough (that's a no-brainer). After any disaster, downtime should be minimal, not excessive due to overreaction and political correctness.
With that said, I'm accepting VISA/MC (sorry, no Discover cards) for donations to my fund for a seat on the shuttle.
and to think i just spent my life savings on a pair of shoes... better start saving up again
Forgive me if I ask something stupid, but why would this need NASA's approval?
I don't see it on Expedia
See, this is the perfect way to get rid of Senator Hatch and his "I'm going to destroy your PC" brigade.
find it disgusting that companies and countries are sending people up for profit to a space station that was funded by taxpayer dollars intended ostensibly for research ? Does anyone find it disturbing that lives of astronauts could possibly be jeopardized by having relatively untrained personnel on board ?
1) Oportunity
2) ???
3) Profit!
Ultimately, if it puts cash into the space program, im all for some rich idiots paying stupid ammounts of cash for it.
An infinite number of monkeys will eventually come up with the complete works of
I would like to see a copy of the disclaimer on that trip ... we will not be held liable for your luggage melting on re-entry... nor yourself.....
This is certainly a lot more dangerous than going by airlines. I hope they give a good life insurance bonus plus full refund of your ticket money if you happen to be on the wrong shuttle and get blown up into smitherbits.
-N
The Cycle of Violence is to be seen as the invisible hand that maintains the balance of Man and Nature on earth.--M
This will do a lot more good than harm. Space travel suffers from some extreme eliteism, justified or not - and if the average joe doesn't see people who don't have 50 initials after their name going up, they are and will lose interest in space exploration. One thing that gives hope is that maybe someday you'll have enough money to do that - because in the great USA, the almighty dollar speaks both last and loudest.
Anything that drums up public support for space exploration gets a thumbs up from me. Honestly, I don't see how much this can jepordize anyone's life. Many/most of the systems onboard these craft are fully automated, and if shit hits the fan, there's pretty much zilcho anyone can do.
So no, I don't find this disgusting at all.
..don't panic
Man: Excuse me stewardess, what is the in flight movie?
Stewardess: Apollo 13, sir.
Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
Holy shit.
Las Vegas odds makers are giving 2-to-1 that NASA will find a way to much it up
Hmm, the shuttle aint launching for another 6 months, at best. I'm guessing they'll be a crew changeover before then - and Nasa needs to stay in Russia's good books.
Of course, for $20 million a person, you could launch 7 people - the compliment of a shuttle - for $140m. The average shuttle flight costs $500m.
It's "Rosaviakosmos", not "Rosoviakosmos".
It's not as though the tourists would have anywhere else to go--where are you going to send them, the moon? And as others have pointed out, the more money rich folks pour into space programs, the less of your tax dollars are taken out for them.
As far as "possibly jeopardizing the lives of astronauts", RTFA: This "extra mission" would fly two paying passengers that will have undergone months of training for the trip to the orbiting outpost. (emphasis added) Even Russia isn't stupid enough to send people into space without adequate training.
think the parent poster is bitter because he can't afford a space trip? I do.
I'll wait for the ISS to appear on hotels.com before signing up. I have to find someway to save a buck...
-Dae
"Alle reden vom wetter. Wir nicht." - SDS Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund.
j00 4r3 3n73r1ng l337 w0r1d.
Learn about what you're talking about before you speak.
Congress determines what NASA will do. NASA has a charter created by the government that dictates what NASA can and can't do.
Profiting falls neatly into the can't column.
In fact, NASA is obligated by its charter to give away all the technology it develops. UV sunglasses, pacemakers, velcro, and hundreds of other major scientific breaktrhoughs are a result of NASA research. But NASA is prohibited from making money off of them. If Congress would let them, NASA would take over the world.
/sig
NASA knows that the Russians need money for their space program and will probably tolerate this guy as well.
this sig deleted by another sig
...He can always sit in the Soyuz (not set foot on/in/onto(?)) the Station until it's time to go home. Oh, wait, THAT Soyuz will stay docked to the Station for six months...
He/She will be the first orbital hermit.
Plus if you sign up now you get a 10% discount on Russian nukes!
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musings on politics and technol
Mile high club? That is soooo 20th century. I suggest that the next module to be attached to the ISS should be the Space Erogenous eXperiment module. For the very reasonable price of USD 50M, you and your partner get a round trip ticket and a week's stay in the luxurious and private S.E.X. module on the ISS. (Meals and port fees are included.)
This is the kind of development that makes the budget woes of the ISS go away. If it costs <pinky> one Billlllion dollars </pinky> to put the thing up there, you've roughly broken even after 20 bookings. So be pessimistic and say that it takes 40 bookings. If they fly passengers 6 times a year, the module is "in the black" inside of 7 years. After that, it's generating revenue for the program and funding the science operations. How many other ISS modules could lay claim to that? I know I'd certainly welcome any structure that reduces the amount of money that the ISS sucks out of my wallet.
UV sunglasses, pacemakers, velcro , and hundreds of other major scientific breaktrhoughs
Dammit, we all know that the Vulcans introduced velcro to earth. Enterprise taught me that. Anything else is revisionist propaganda.
So who else saw Tourist-class and right away assumed it was an article about nethack?
Disclaimer:
You may die. poihnt in fact if anything goes wrong, you will die. If you cause something to go wrong, and though some miracle people don't die, you will be ejected nto space, and you will die.
If you do not want to die, put the pen down and leave.
Do you accept that you will probably die and agree you or you estate will not hold anybody who own or come in contact with anything that is in anyway connected to space travel?
If you do die(and probably will) taco bell promises to name a taco after you, if your body hits a target they specify.
Good luck, spave traveller.
Please kiss you loved good by.... forever.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
What I want to know is why the heck are we letting the Russians do this before us? This is just the kind of capitalism that will encourage the commercialization of space. Can you imagine a shuttle flight that actually showed a profit?
The reason for that though is that NASA is funded by public money; you own all those patents anyway (if you're american, that is). But to avoid a hell of a lot of hassle, NASA just plonks it into the public domain.
Anyway, that's beside the point here; it's a fact that NASA is top-heavy, inefficient and basically just a money sink which doesn't do what it's supposed to do: open up space for the masses.
Personally I think it's a big shame on them that a private individual like Burt Rutan will (very likely) have a (commercial) re-usable shuttle service up in the air, sooner and for less cost than anything NASA has ever dreamed up. The NASA bigwigs should be begging to be bitchslapped for failure to do something similar.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
That's not NASA's mission. They are a research organization.
Anyone who thinks they are a just a money sink is either uninformed or blind. The number of world-changing technologies developed by NASA is staggering. Do a search sometime on 'NASA Spinoff' technologies. You'll be amazed at how many common everyday technologies were developed by NASA.
Personally I think it's a big shame on them that a private individual like Burt Rutan will (very likely) have a (commercial) re-usable shuttle service up in the air, sooner and for less cost than anything NASA has ever dreamed up. The NASA bigwigs should be begging to be bitchslapped for failure to do something similar.
Do you know anything of the multiple prototypes developed as a replacement for the Shuttle? Do you know anything of their history, or the fact that Congress terminated their funding?
Mr. Rutan will very likely be using a number of technologies developed by NASA to build his system, and put it towards a use that NASA is not allowed to do. The NASA bigwigs should be commended for doing as well as they are with the limited resources Congress gives them.
/sig
UV sunglasses, pacemakers, velcro, and hundreds of other major scientific breaktrhoughs are a result of NASA research. Umm...I know Americans are supposed to hate the French and all, but just because the Swiss invented Vel(our)Cro(chet) has a French name is no reason to use revisionist tactics on it =P (btw a French textile plant guy helped the Swiss inventer get Velcro to market when nobody believed him and thought he was nuts)
A lottery is a good idea, and has been mooted before - though it has yet to get off the ground. Feel free to organise one - I'm sure Space Adventures would be just as happy to sell the tickets(s) to the organiser of a lottery as to any one else who has the money.
In the mean time, let the rich fly. They can afford it, and by paying to fly in space they show that there is a market for space flight. This will encourage private firms to start offering trips into space, and eventually make it cheap enough for the rest of us.
I am a Statistician. One false move and you are a Statistic
I know that NASA has developed a lot of new technologies. I also know where to find them (no, not nasa.gov :) ).
Thing is, NASA is a space agency, not a pure research agency. They do the research because they have (had) to, to get satelites into space. I think you mistake 'non-profit' for 'pure research organisation'.
Anyway, I know quite a bit about NASA's multiple idea's for shuttle folow ups. The fact that they have multiple should tell you something about the lack of efficiency there. The fact that they spent millions without actual prototypess should say more. The fact that an aussie built a scramjet for 10.000 dollars and actually flew it, whereas NASA, which had many more people and much more money on their scramjet, couldn't get theirs to fly is an even greater indication.
Face it; congress was absolutely right to cut funding for an effort which ran hugely over budget and didn't produce tangible goods, or even cost-savings.
But most telling of all is that many NASA people say the same thing; NASA is a beurocracy which is in the business of perpetuating itself more than doing actual science or innovating in their field. You should go read some scientific journals, and you'd know that.
Sure, they have done and still do amazing things...but how could you not with some amazing people and an amazing budget. But look at China, look at Japan, look at Russia even; all are doing much more to push the boundaries of human experience than NASA is now.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
Gee... I wonder how long until we get the first Space's Mile High Club members...
What was the effect of all those accounts sent back by Lewis and Clark and other early European-decent explorers in North America? The more people found out, the more they wanted to go there. Lots of people died trying to get there and trying to make a living, but they kept coming and built a society like none before it.
science is a religion