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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..."

6 of 120 comments (clear)

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

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

  2. 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.'

  3. 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

  4. 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.
  5. 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!
  6. 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