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Tourists To ISS Two At a Time Starting In 2012

Posted by kdawson on from the honeymoon-with-barf-bag dept.

Matt_dk writes "The US firm Space Adventures said on Friday it will be able to send two space tourists into orbit at once from 2012 onwards, on Soyuz spacecraft. 'We have been working on this project for a number of years,' said Sergey Kostenko, the head of the company's office in Russia. Each Soyuz will carry two tourists and a professional astronaut. One of the tourists will have to pass a year-and-a-half training course as a flight engineer. Space Adventures has been authorized by the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos to select and contract candidates for space tourist trips." Meanwhile, the AP has a look back at the delays and disappointments in the commercial spaceflight industry since Burt Rutan captured the Ansari X Prize 5 years ago — no space company has yet announced a date for commercial availability.

17 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. No company has yet.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    no space company has yet announced a date for commercial availability.

    According to the summary, Space Adventures just did.

    1. Re:No company has yet.... by murdocj · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, it's too bad that the USA has fallen so far behind, now with Russian rovers exploring Mars, Chinese spacecraft making the first detailed inspection of Mercury, the Brazilians having sending a probe to Pluto... /sarcasm

    2. Re:No company has yet.... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

      What do you define as a 'geriatric'? Ten years ago nobody had heard of Google. 15 years ago nobody had heard of Viagra. 20 years ago the internet was an novelty item that was little used outside of academia and the US Government.

      So now us old folks can use Google on the Internet to go buy Viagra. The future is here and we're loving it! Go USA!

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    3. Re:No company has yet.... by lysergic.acid · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Space Adventures is a U.S. company; they're just using the Russian space program to send clients into space. Nothing is really being pioneered here, not even by the Russians. They haven't designed a new launch vehicle. They haven't made space travel more affordable. They haven't made it significantly safer, either.

      That said, the Russian space program has had a better safety record. Also, they're probably a little less risk adverse, and a little more desperate for cash. So that's why it's the Russians who are sending billionaires into space.

      I think it's a good thing that NASA has the federal funding to focus on science rather than having to rent themselves out as a space taxi for the rich for funding. If private companies want to invest in space tourism, that's their prerogative. That's not what NASA was created for. If anything, they should stick to developing cutting-edge technology (which eventually gets passed down to the civilian sector after they've matured and decreased in cost) and leave the commercialization of space to the private sector.

      This is akin to renting out our cutting edge nuclear subs to the rich and famous to use as a weekend pleasure vessel. Yea, it's "pioneering" in the sense that it hasn't been done before, but it's not exactly an enviable achievement. Now, if Space Adventures had designed a spacecraft of their own specifically tailored to commercial space travel, making it economically viable and safe enough for civilian use (i.e. not having to spend a year training for a 10-day trip), then that would be a huge pioneering achievement.

      However, I just don't see that happening within the next decade unless some significant advances in space technology are made. It simply costs to much to put something into space. Short of the space elevator or some other revolutionary launch vehicle being developed, "space tourism" will remain a novelty for the super rich.

  2. Virgin Galactic has lost the buzz by QuantumG · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And that's how you do it folks. Take a product that people are already climbing over themselves to pay deposits on, and then hype it some more, and back up that hype with an unrealistic schedule. When you go one year over that schedule, people might forgive you. When you go two years over people start wondering what the hell is taking so long. When you go three years over.. well, hello Duke Nukem Forever, can I have my deposit back please?

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    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:Virgin Galactic has lost the buzz by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 4, Informative

      Uhhh... Virgin Galactic announced their service before they had even really started development on their spaceship. I think people understood pretty well there would be a delay as they develop, build and test a new spacecraft. And considering the virgin galactic trip costs 1% the price of a soyuz trip I would say they're in pretty different markets.

    2. Re:Virgin Galactic has lost the buzz by QuantumG · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "People" understood nothing. There's still people *today* talking about Virgin Galactic like they're going to be doing orbital flight. In any case, the whole "Bigger Faster Better" aspect of SpaceShipTwo was a long time coming.. most people who put down their money thought they were going to get a flight on a vehicle identical to SpaceShipOne. Of course, since then the buzz has started to die off and crazy Will Whitehorn has been talking up the alternate uses for White Knight 2 should SpaceShipTwo never fly - which is great if you're trying to attract investors, but terrible if you want to stem the tide of people asking for their deposits back.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    3. Re:Virgin Galactic has lost the buzz by QuantumG · · Score: 3, Interesting

      5 years ago people were willing to pay $200k for a ride on SpaceShipOne.. there was a line of them out the door. They refused. Today, people have had 5 years to think about it and they're asking "Gee, what do I get for my $200k?" and now they're not really interested anymore. That's how you kill a market.. gobble up all the capital so you can make the only product, hype the hell out of the product, then not be ready when people come banging on your door. VG have openly said that people are no longer interested in their flights. Even if they were to fly next year (and I doubt they will fly for many years yet), there's likely to be less customers than they need to turn a profit.

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      How we know is more important than what we know.
    4. Re:Virgin Galactic has lost the buzz by QuantumG · · Score: 3, Funny

      Go research that and come back when you realize how much of an idiot you are.

      Oh, and enjoy the fact that you can't delete your comment.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    5. Re:Virgin Galactic has lost the buzz by Darkness404 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Hm, I wonder why that is? Surely it didn't have anything to do with the financial meltdown. Surely it wasn't because all the CEOs with millions invested in various stocks realized that the stocks were failing? Basically, Virgin Galactic's market is CEOs or other wealthy people with cash to burn who want to experience weightlessness in space. When most of them realized they can't afford the million dollar bonus this year, Virgin Galactic's market kinda dried up.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  3. Transformation in Progress by Dr.+Eggman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sounds like the first space hotel is up there already; it just doesn't know it yet.

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    Demented But Determined.
  4. Re:Glad we can provide a new fun park for the rich by QuantumG · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The spaceflight participants are trained to do the same job as the cosmonauts do. Why do you care if the trained monkey is a Russian government employee or a person who has paid for his own seat? Energia is a private corporation who provide human launch services to the Russian government (and soon the US government), if they want to sell the extra soyuz seat to the highest bidder, what concern of yours is it?

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    How we know is more important than what we know.
  5. Re:Glad we can provide a new fun park for the rich by mill3d · · Score: 3, Funny

    One could also ramp up $35 mil. in debt and become the first bankrupt pauper to make it to space...

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    Nothing is enough for whom enough is too little - Confucius
  6. Re:Finally! I can join the Orbit-High club by voss · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dont laugh so fast...Some rich nerdy guy can buy a seat for himself and some hot chick prescreened
    not to have space sickness.

    For the small, small price of 40 million dollars he can make himself a legend.

  7. Re:Glad we can provide a new fun park for the rich by QuantumG · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What part of this are you not understanding? The ISS does the science right? They need humans up there to follow instructions and do the busy work because putting robotic arms up there would be just too hard (or something). Basically anyone can do it.. you don't need to be a fighter pilot or a superman, you just have to have the training. So who gets the training? The hand picked military man? Or the guy who shows up and says "I'll pay you $30 million if you teach me how to do it". Kinda a no brainer.. you send the guy who is offering to pay you rather than the guy who is demanding a pay check. Duh.

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    How we know is more important than what we know.
  8. Sooo.... by Kell+Bengal · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So if I buy a ticket and perform the tasks of a flight engineer, do I get a discount?

    --
    Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
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  9. The world's gonna end anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't know why anyone is making plans beyond 2012, we all what is coming...