Data from public opinion polls indicate that nearly fifty million
people would like to visit space. In fact as many as two million people
each year would take the journey beyond the outer limits of Earth's
gravity. The public's fascination with space travel means the potential
development of a space travel tourism industry with revenues that could
amount to $10 billion or more every year.
Therefore, it really is
not hard to understand the interest in commercial space travel by
private business. In fact, more than six companies are working to making
commercial space travel a reality. However, the company that is closest
to becoming the industry pioneer is Virgin Galactic. The company is a
well funded joint venture of Richard Branson, Burt Rutan, and Paul
Allen.
Eager future space travelers should consider that the
development of Virgin Galactic's Space Ship Two is nearly completed and
could be performing test flights by the end of the year into space. The
spacecrafts successful predecessor, Spaceship One, last reached space on
October 4, 2004, winning the $10m Ansari X Prize. The larger and more
powerful, Space Ship Two, is being built to accommodate two pilots and
six passengers. Indeed, there will be enough room on board to experience
the freedom of movement in the zero gravity of space. Initially, Virgin
Galactic has ordered five spaceships to begin the business of
commercial space travel and tourism.
The Spaceships will launch
from the Virgin Galactic's spaceport which is currently under
construction in the state of New Mexico. The spaceport will be the first
commercial space launch and control facility in the United States. The
$200m spaceport project is designed to cover 27 square miles. It will
feature a mission control station, runways, and the Virgin Galactic
headquarters. Much of the facility will be built underground.
Customers
that want to experience commercial space travel have been lining up for
tickets. 75 people have already paid the entire $200,000 fee. William
Shatner, Sigourney Weaver, and Paris Hilton are reported to be among the
early space tourists while hundreds of others have put down more than
thirty million dollars in deposits to reserve their seat for a flight on
Virgin's Spaceships. However, the initial experience of commercial
space flight will be brief and it will not exactly represent a bargain
ride. Passengers will spend just under 10 minutes in space at an
altitude of only 65 miles, high enough to experience free fall and to
see the curvature of the earth.
Of course, the creation of the new
space travel tourism industry comes with government regulations.
Already the United States Federal Aviation Administration has published
its guidelines for commercial space travel, one hundred and twenty three
pages of regulations that require disclosure and passenger training.
Requirements include a disclosure on the number of trips the spacecraft
has made into orbit and a history of its problems as well as a notice
that the spacecraft has not been government certified. Also required is
pre flight training for passengers in order to be properly prepared to
handle emergencies such as a fire or loss of cabin pressure. Passengers
will also be subject to the no-fly list currently operating in the US
which is designed to stop terrorists boarding regular passenger flights.
It
is expected that once people experience future commercial space travel,
that they will want to make space their ultimate vacation destination.
Therefore, the next innovative commercial space business venture may be
the orbiting space hotel. Robert Bigelow, who made his fortune with
hotel chain Budget Suites Of America, is already working on a prototype
orbiting hotel. Bigelow has invested $75 million into the project, with a
estimate of $425 million more a necessary commitment for the future.
His
orbiting hotel venture is being developed under the corporate name of
Bigelow Aerospace. The firm has successfully completed the first phase
of the project by launching a small pod that inflates aloft called
Genesis I. It is the first in a series of launches scheduled every six
months for the next two and a half years. Genesis I has marked the
beginning of what could be the first privately funded space station. The
project is a prototype for cheap, livable, interconnecting rooms for
commercial use in space similar in design to the International Space
Station. In fact, Genesis I was an early concept for the ISS that was
researched through funding by NASA. Robert Bigelow has since purchased
the rights to the patent of the technology for his Genesis prototype.
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