Suborbital Jaunts From New Mexico To Start In 2011, One Year Later From Sweden

Last week Virgin Galactic announced the names of the five travel companies who will train to become "Accredited Space Agents" - ASAs - the first agents in Scandinavia allowed to reserve seats aboard suborbital space flights from Spaceport Sweden, slated to begin in 2012.

The new ASAs include Hannibal & Marco Polo A/S, Aarhus, Denmark; Area Travel Agency, Helsinki, Finland; Ice Hotel Travel, Jukkasjärvi, Sweden; The Search, Malmö, Sweden; and Upplevelseakuten AB, Stockholm, Sweden.

Johanna Bergstrom-Roos, information manager of Spaceport Sweden, said: "We have been looking forward to the announcement of Virgin's winning ASAs. They will now become part of a truly unique and exciting new sector within both space and tourism. Spaceport Sweden will provide infrastructure, services and adventures for space tourism. Having ASAs in Scandinavia means greater local expertise in this field and will add a valuable extra dimension to the existing strong relationship between Spaceport Sweden and Virgin Galactic."

Virgin Galactic began their quest for Scandinavian travel agents last January. After submitting a comprehensive application, all of the travel agents were shortlisted, and then interviewed by Virgin Galactic.

Carolyn Wincer, Head of Astronaut Sales for Virgin Galactic, said, "We were extremely impressed with the professionalism and innovation shown by travel agencies in the Scandinavian region. Travel agents play an important part in Virgin Galactic's distribution process. A good travel agent is a trusted advisor on travel experiences to their clients, so when we decided to take our experience to this market, we sought only the best travel agents to sell our suborbital spaceflights."

The new ASAs will be ready to start taking Virgin Galactic enquiries and bookings as soon as their training is completed. The appointed ASAs will be skilled in general spaceflight technology, g-forces, medical issues and the entire Virgin Galactic experience, so they are well prepared to provide expert advice to prospective spaceflight customers. They will also get to meet staff from Spaceport Sweden, who will be there to talk about plans for launching Virgin Galactic flights near Kiruna in Northern Sweden.

Wincer added, "The five agencies we have chosen know how deliver outstanding levels of service when selling unique travel experiences, and we have every confidence they will take very good care of our future astronauts. Now it is up to us to ensure they have all the knowledge and resources they need to do this, as selling space travel is definitely more complex than selling a safari or a cruise!"

"We expect that the first tourist flights leaving from the United States will start around 2011, and that Kiruna will be next, about a year later, in 2012," Bergstroem-Roos told Agence-France Presse. Nearly 300 tickets at a price of $200,000 each have already been sold for the short tourist space flights, she said.

"We hope Kiruna will become Europe's main launch pad for the tourist flights. We are truly experienced when it comes to space missions. The suborbital flights that will be sent up with tourists are the kinds of flights we already run from Kiruna, although we today send crewless flights much higher up, to 800 kilometers."

FMI: www.virgingalactic.com, www.spaceportamerica, www.ssc.se/?id=9500