Mon, Jul 24, 2006
That's On Top Of The $20 Mil It'll Cost You To Go Into
Orbit
Looking for that perfect birthday
gift? Well... if price isn't an issue, then how about the low, LOW
price of $15 million for a spacewalk?
Space Adventures Limited, the Virginia-based travel agency that
arranged for the first spaceflight by a paying tourist, is now
offering a 90-minute stroll outside the Russian segments of the
International Space Station. Space Adventures already offers a
$20-million package for the tourist who's seen it all... a chance
to visit the International Space Station, in exchange for some
much-needed hard-cash.
The company's president and CEO, Eric Anderson, says offering
spacewalks is the next logical step... and already, there are
plenty of potential clients. Some of them, in fact, are repeat
customers -- space tourists who've already flown.
The outings will last long enough for one eye-popping orbit of
the Earth... and if the experience isn’t eye-popping enough,
the final price tag is.
The $15 million fee is in addition to the $20 million Space
Adventures charges for a 10-day round trip to the space
outpost.
Anderson says he has no takers just yet... but several customers
are are interested and Anderson expects his first spacewalking
client within two years.
Still... you can bet there'll be a lot of red tape to get
through before a tourist can walk in space. The tourist, and the
plans for the spacewalk, must win the approval of NASA -- and the
space station's 14 other international partners.
Russia's space agency also says potential spacewalking tourists
would have to meet training and medical requirements.
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