Travelzoo is celebrating the milestone of its having signed up 10 million subscribers, by sending that 10 millionth subscriber into space. Matthew Wagner (below, middle, with Dr. Norm Thagard, on the left and Travelzoo Boss Ralph Bartel to the right) from Santa Fe Springs, California, was presented a ticket for a suborbital spaceflight by Travelzoo Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Bartel.

The ticket was presented aboard a zero gravity preparation flight over Cape Canaveral, Florida and was launched and recovered right from NASA's Shuttle Landing Facility. Wagner is the 10 millionth subscriber to Travelzoo® publications.

Wagner, an industrial real estate broker, became Travelzoo’s 10 millionth subscriber when he signed up for the company’s U.S. Top 20® e-mail newsletter. Travelzoo handpicks the hottest travel deals and publishes them every Wednesday in its Top 20 e-mail newsletter.

“My dad is a big fan of Travelzoo’s Top 20 and he recommended that I sign up for it. I had no idea that I’d get a once in a lifetime opportunity like this. I can’t believe it!” said Wagner, the 10 millionth subscriber.

“The zero gravity flight was a great way to prepare for my space trip and I am so excited about being on a suborbital flight.“

“We are thrilled to celebrate the fact that Matthew is our 10 millionth subscriber and award him with this fantastic prize,” said Ralph Bartel.

“We are very proud of achieving this milestone for our publications. Space is the next travel frontier and we wanted to provide our subscriber with the newest form of travel.”

The suborbital spaceflight prize given to Wagner will allow him to experience weightlessness and view the Earth from 62 miles. The spaceflight will be operated by Space Adventures®. The flight is expected to take place in 2008.

To give Wagner a taste of what the feeling of weightlessness will be like and for the official presentation of his ticket to space, Travelzoo chartered a zero gravity preparation flight (also known as parabolic flight) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Wagner was accompanied by Veteran NASA Astronaut Dr. Norman Thagard and photographed in Zero-G by ANN's temporarily weightless (and for WAY too short a time...) Jim Campbell. Zero gravity flight is used by astronauts to train for space missions and was used for the weightless scenes in the movie ‘Apollo 13’.

The Zero-G program is an FAA Part 121 certified Commercial service provided by the Zero-Gravity Corporation, which offers these space-age rides to erstwhile astronauts aboard modified Boeing 727s.

On April 6, Travelzoo announced that the company’s publications now reach more than 10 million subscribers. This represents the total number of unduplicated subscribers to Travelzoo’s U.S. Top 20 e-mail newsletter, its Newsflash™ e-mail alert service and its U.K. Top 20™ e-mail newsletter.

FMI: www.travelzoo.com, www.nogravity.com