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Two New Space Tourists Announced

Posted by simoniker on from the day-trip-to-trumpton dept.

jfoust writes "Reuters is reporting that the space tourism company Space Adventures has signed up two Americans, at $20 million each, to fly on future Soyuz missions to the ISS. No details about who these people are, other than one is a 38-year-old male Manhattan real estate developer. One will fly in 2004 and the other in 2005. If you haven't quite saved up the $20 million yet, don't worry, the company is still looking for at least two additional tourists for flights through 2007..."

14 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Space travel is expensive by ObviousGuy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Space tourists get to bring the costs down for everyone in the long run. And they really don't get much more than bragging rights and rides in the Vomit Comet for all that money.

    I'd rather spend my $20,000,000 on a long vacation in Moraco.

    --
    I have been pwned because my /. password was too easy to guess.
    1. Re:Space travel is expensive by Fjornir · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I consider eight to ten days in orbit to be considerably more than a quick ride on the pukelator.

      --
      I want a new world. I think this one is broken.
    2. Re:Space travel is expensive by -noefordeg- · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "'d rather spend my $20,000,000 on a long vacation in Moraco."

      Well, duh! Don't you think he's done that too? I'm pretty sure he hasn't got exactly $20mill but probably a little more or maybe A LOT more $$$.

      If I had $21mill I would have done this at once. You've got one life, why spend it in Monaco with greedy and utterly boring people with probably nothing more to think about than what to wear and when they do open their mouth the utter stupidity of what's being said will make your braincells wither away. Also.... If you are a normal person you'll get bored at a place like Monaco after a weekend...

      G'damn... I would love to be able to be in space *sigh*

      Better patent something fast!

  2. Damnit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Damnit! I spent my $20,000,000 buying SCO licenses for my Beowulf cluster...

  3. Miles? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does anyone remember just how many frequent flyer miles I would need to get one of those other spots?

    1. Re:Miles? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      300? The ISS is only 300 miles away from earth.

  4. Pre-boarding conversation... by Channard · · Score: 5, Funny
    'Here you so, sir! Your tickets. Welcome to the Space Shuttle.'

    'Thanks.. er, why does my ticket say 'ballast' on it, instead of my name?'

    'Er, merely a formality sir. Now if you just take your seat in the 'duct taped to the wing' section.'

  5. How much are the Insurance costs? by Richard+M.+Nixon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I imagine they would sign some sort of "I will not sue you, and my family won't sue you if I die in a horrible accident." kinda contract. But will that really prevent family from trying to sue later?

    Then again, I don't think an insurance policy exists that you could buy for this sort of thing. And it wouldn't make sense anyway since the very concept of insurance requires lots of people to buy into the system.

    Maybe the people running it go up into space each time as well, that way if there is a horrible accident and the client/s die, they die too and don't have to worry about litigation.

    This sort of business gives new meaning to extreme sports do at your own stupid risk activity. Add that to the expense and this is truely the sport of kings.

    --
    Nobody died when Nixon lied.
    I'm meeting you half way you stupid hippies!
  6. Not really by nil5 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Space tourism is pretty inconsequential and doesn't bring the cost down, since there are so few space tourists. The amount of money it costs to launch a rocket, let alone maintain the ISS DWARF the income provided by a space tourist.

    You're drawing the obvious, specious conclusion

  7. Only in America by Space+cowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful


    Yeah, I know, you're all going to mod me down for being critical, but honestly, where else in the world would the question of a lawsuit be even asked, should the thing blow up ?

    It's a bloody dangerous thing to do. Accept that. Take responsibility for accepting that and "either do, or do not, there is no 'try it and sue'", to horribly paraphrase Yoda.

    Simon.

    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
    1. Re:Only in America by shanen · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You know that they're going to have to waive every form of liability under the sun before they get anywhere near the thing. Not only them, but every relative unto the fourth cousin twice removed will have to sign, too. Probably current employeers, past employeers for the past 10 years, and any company the "astroballast" might potentially work for in the future will have to agree.

      However, all things considered, it's probably safe enough. Sad to say, the Russians have the better safety record. They've already launched a tourist successfully, while America lost one of the two we launched. (Or was it three?)

      --
      Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
  8. Finally a 'cheap' way to pick up chicks . . by OverlordQ · · Score: 4, Funny

    "So what do you do?"

    "I'm a real estate developer . . and in my spare time I'm an astronaut."

    --
    Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
  9. Be patient and keep saving by Lagrange5 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Save your money and wait for private enterprise to catch up. It may not be that far away.

    With the good news that Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne flew beyond the speed of sound yesterday, affordable space tourism may be possible within our lifetimes. Granted, Scaled may yet have quite a long way to go to reach space, but they made a leap in the right direction on an historic day. My money's on Burt Rutan and his team to take the X-Prize (but I'd have said that before yesterday).

    So if you're say, under 40, there's a good chance you could be able to visit space before your 60th birthday. So be patient. It won't be a seller's market forever.

    --
    "Folks just call him Buckethead." -- Les Claypool
  10. Re:Surely a better use of the money... by Shihar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yeah, 20 million probably is better spent on charity or invested into some life saving research. However, it is a tad hypocritical for most people to make such a statement. I know I bought myself a new computer that I didn't need. The only difference between my selfish act and these space tourists is magnitude. If a rich guy wants to blow 20 million on a life's dream, more power to him. I would do the same thing in his position.

    If it is any consolation, it very could lead to some greater benefit for mankind. These first few spending money on something so expensive and risky very well could encourage someone somewhere to develop better spaceflight for the purpose of tourism. Even if you don't consider cheaper space tourism as a benefit for humankind, things learned the development of the industry could benefit humankind.

    One of the brighter sides of capitalism is that even selfish acts can lead to improving the greater good, even if it is just an accidental consequence of someone's selfish desires.