Space Tourism | Universe Today

According to a Russian official, the commercial space company Space Adventures will be sending two space tourists a year into orbit on Soyuz spacecraft from beginning in 2012. "We have been working on this project for a number of years" said Sergey Kostenko, the head of the company's office in Russia, who was quoted in the Russian news website RiaNovosti. "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."
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NASA photographer Bill Ingalls is in Russia at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, capturing the rollout of the Soyuz TMA-16 rocket today, scheduled to launch on Sept. 30 to the International Space Station. Of course the Soyuz rollout and launch is a whole different experience from the shuttle rollout, and these pictures tell the story. Additionally, this launch has a bit more "festive" feel to it: spaceflight participant Guy Laliberte, founder of Cirque du Soleil, is part of the crew. Also on board, Soyuz Commander Max Suraev, and NASA Flight Engineer Jeff Williams are scheduled to launch at 2:14 a.m. CDT on Wednesday, Sept. 30.

Above, a Russian security officers walk along the railroad tracks as the Soyuz rocket is rolled out to the launch pad.
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A rocket powered vehicle successfully completed the first step toward qualifying to win a $1 million prize for NASA's Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Armadillo Aerospace's "Scorpius" lander set world records for vertical landings and takeoff flights by flying up 50 meters (164 feet) into the air, maneuvering over to land on a simulated rocky lunar surface 50 meters (164 feet) away, and then rising and flying back to land where it started. The flight included a requirement of at least 180 seconds of flying time. Watch the video from the second qualifying flight here. Armadillo is the first team of three teams looking to nab the prize this year.
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An international company announced plans to launch a commercial space venture using spacecraft designed for a once classified Russian space program. Excalibur Almaz Limited plans to offer week-long orbital space flights beginning as early as 2013 with updated 1970's era Reusable Return Vehicles, designed for flying to the USSR's top-secret Almaz space station. Excalibur Alamaz's press release said they would be "taking a big leap beyond the sub-orbital flight market targeted by most other private space companies."
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The XCOR X-Racer Prototype, built for the Rocket Racing League was flown at the AirVenture 2008, and XCOR just released a couple of videos. This is an onboard camera split view from one flight and its a lot of fun to watch. The pilot is Richard Searfoss, Astronaut (former) and Col. USAF (Ret.), and the Flight Test Engineer is Mark Street.

Below is a music video showing a sped-up version of getting the X-Racer ready to go, and the flight.
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Want to launch something into space? You can now do just that for only $8,000 USD. The rocket company Interorbital Services (IOS) is offering their "TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit" that can carry 0.75-kg into orbit. The price includes a launch into low Earth orbit on an IOS NEPTUNE 30 launch vehicle to 310 kilometers (192 miles) above the Earth. TubeSats are designed to be orbit-friendly, and not contribute to orbital debris by being in a self-decaying orbit. Launches are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2010.
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Attendees at the AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin were treated with watching Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo take flight. On board the mothership — which will launch space tourism and science customers into space — was none other than Vigin's founder Richard Branson. "This was one of the most incredible experiences of my life," Branson said after the flight. "It’s a beautiful aircraft to fly and its incredibly light carbon construction and efficient design points the way to a much brighter future for commercial aviation as well as the industrial revolution in space which I believe our entire space launch system heralds."
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A couple flew like Superman and floated upside down to say their wedding vows on Saturday, as Zero Gravity Corporation hosted the world's first-ever weightless wedding. Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan were married on June 20 among family and friends who were all on board ZERO-G's G-FORCE One, a specially modified Boeing 727. Officiating the wedding was Richard Garriott, the sixth private explorer in history to go to space, and the first second-generation U.S. astronaut. "I am honored to be taking part in Erin and Noah's wedding. I know firsthand the added thrill microgravity will play in their already joyous event," said Garriott. "The excitement from these first ever microgravity nuptials will not soon fade in the minds of all the members of the wedding party."
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The western United States used to be known as the frontier, and now that region will provide access to the final frontier. On June 19, ground will be broken in New Mexico for Spaceport America, the world's first commercial spaceport built for launching private citizens into space. Groundbreaking ceremonies will include a flyover by Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo, the mothership that will send tourists on their way to space in SpaceShip2. Virgin Galactic will be the first – if not most important — tenant of Spaceport America, and already more than 250 people have put money down to take trips to the edge of space as early as next year.
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At a session today from the International Space Development Conference going in Orlando, Florida, the CEO of the commercial space company XCOR Aerospace had a few suggestions for all the eager space enthusiasts out there concerning test flights. In so many words Jeff Greason said everyone needs to chill out about the results from initial test flights. Of course, he was talking about all the test flights taking place with commercial space endeavors, but with the Ares 1-X getting ready to head to the launch pad for its first flight test, scheduled for August, perhaps we all need heed Greason's advice and let the experts do their jobs.
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If flying to the International Space Station has been one of your lifelong dreams, don't give up hope just yet. While NASA and even the Russian space agency have been warning that with the increase in crew size on the ISS, there won't be room for any space tourists on board the Soyuz crew exchange flights, Eric Anderson, CEO of Space Adventures held a news conference on Friday to let everyone know the space tourist game is still on. "Space Adventures is very much looking to continue providing orbital space flight opportunities to the ISS, even as the logistical and crew situation continues to evolve," Anderson said. "We plan to do this in two ways. First, via privately funded Soyuz missions; fully dedicated flights of the Soyuz with two seats available for private spaceflight. That program is moving full steam ahead and we anticipate first flight of that profile could launch in 2012." The second option, Anderson said, is that they anticipate the 3rd seat on board the Soyuz could become available occasionally.
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The mothership for Virgin Galactic's commercial space flights recently completed its third successful test flight, going faster and farther than any previous flights. The WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) flew for over two and half hours, at a maximum speed of 140 knots and an altitude of over 18,000 ft. "This is a truly remarkable aviation vehicle," said test pilot Peter Siebold, "and, although it might look unique from the ground it is not strange to fly in any way and is in fact a great piloting experience. Now the stratosphere is the limit as we will continually test Eve (WK2) for the next few months up to her ceiling of above 50,000 ft."

A video of WK2 and the flight is available below.
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Private spaceflight companies seem to be getting closer and closer to the dream of launching a new breed of tourist on sub-orbital sightseeing tours. Since the late '90's the company Space Adventures has been sending millionaires on "trips of a lifetime", but their most popular destination, the International Space Station, will stop hosting spaceflight participants at the end of this year as the Russian Soyuz spaceship wont have any more spare seats (as the crew on the station increase from three to six).

However, there are other private spaceflight companies beginning to realise the profits that could be made in space, not by dropping people off on the space station, but by launching them on short sub-orbital joyrides. They are building their own spaceships and even before the first rocket has ignited, there is growing competition for a piece of the space tourism market. Ticket prices have tumbled from the tens of millions (for a few days in orbit) to $200,000 (for a couple of hours on board a Virgin Galactic flight) to $95,000 (on board XCOR's Lynx spaceplane for 30 minutes).

So, where should these companies launch their space tourists from? Although the space above the Mojave and New Mexico deserts are likely to be thundering to life within the next few years, a slightly more exotic destination is currently vying for a position in this burgeoning industry. Hawaii could be perfectly located not only for suborbital tourism, but for a revolution in global travel…
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An official from the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said the International Space Station will not be available for visits by space tourists after 2009, the Russian news agency Novosti reported. As the ISS crew grows from three to six, all the seats on the Soyuz-TMA spacecraft will be used by astronauts and cosmonauts from the various international partners of the ISS, not leaving any room for paying tourists. Director Anatoly Perminov said the last commercial flights would be made this year; in March 2009 former Microsoft software guru Charles Simonyi will make his second trip to the space station, and a Kazakh cosmonaut will fly to the ISS in the fall of 2009.
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In December, XCOR Aerospace, Inc. successfully completed its first test fire of the rocket engine that will be used to power its Lynx suborbital launch vehicle to the edge of space. Today, they released some new images of the test that are sure to excite any rocket enthusiast. The new engine, called the 5K18, produces between 2500-2900 lbs of thrust by burning a mixture of liquid oxygen and kerosene. The engine was fired Monday, December 15th, 2008 at XCOR’s rocket test facility located at the Mojave Air and Space Port. XCOR is the company that dropped its price of a suborbital ride to the edge of space to $95,000. The Lynx will use four of the 5K18 engines to carry people or payloads 61 kilometers (37 miles) above the Earth. “Firing a new rocket engine is always an important milestone,” said XCOR COO Andrew Nelson. “It gives everyone on the team a tremendous sense of accomplishment and demonstrates to customers and investors that XCOR knows how to take new ideas and make them a reality.”

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