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Russia will fly two space tourists to the ISS in late 2021
Russia has flown just seven tourists to space since 2001, but it's about to expand that number in the near future. The country's space agency, Roscosmos, has signed a deal with Space Adventures to carry two "spaceflight participants" (read: tourists) to the International Space Station in late 2021. They'll fly aboard a familiar Soyuz spacecraft for a "short duration" trip. The guests haven't been named, although it's safe to presume they'll have large bank accounts.
Virgin Galactic, XCOR land suborbital contracts with NASA
Have $200,000 to spare for a ticket to space? NASA does, apparently, a few times over. Following the retirement of its Space Shuttle program, the US agency just announced two-year contracts with seven space flight companies, worth a combined $10 million. NASA will partner with Virgin Galactic, XCOR, and five other companies to bring engineers, scientists, and equipment to space, for a variety of experiments in low-gravity environments. The contract provides few financial implications for Virgin, which has already collected $55 million in deposits from future space tourists, but the company did acknowledge it as an "important milestone" in its efforts to grow beyond initial consumer offerings. Space Adventures, which serves as a low-cost carrier of sorts in the industry with its $102,000 flight, may be represented as well, through its partner Armadillo Aerospace -- so it's probably safe to assume that NASA won't be paying two large huge a pop to blast its personnel to space.
Space Adventures will shoot you (and your ego) to the moon for $150 million
Y'know, there are only so many pristine beaches and spectacular slopes one can see before terrestrial tourism becomes blasé. That's why Space Adventures -- who lets folks vacay in space via suborbital jaunts -- is offering to shoot you to the moon during your next work sabbatical. Amateur astronauts won't actually land on the lunar surface, of course, but their Soyuz spacecraft will get within 62 miles of it. To indulge in your lunar fantasy, it'll only cost you 150 million bucks, or roughly the GDP of a [insert small island nation here]. One of the two seats is already taken, but the company needs another would-be moon man or lunar lady before the trip's a go. The only thing stopping us (and everyone we know) from signing up is an empty bank account -- does Fastweb do spaceflight scholarships?
Boeing plans to add space tourism seats to its CST-100 flights by 2015
Boeing has announced plans to add space tourism to its CST-100 -- or Crew Space Transportation-100-- low orbit flights by 2015. Operated by a partnership with Space Adventures, the flights will be able to carry up to seven passengers about 62 miles above Earth's surface, and the craft are currently being developed with the help of NASA.The vehicles could also be used as a ferry to get people to and from the various space habitats companies are working away at. There's no word on what the pricing of one of these journeys will look like, but trust us: Jared Leto will be able to afford one, while you probably will not.
Space Adventures undercuts Virgin Galactic -- announces $100,000 space tourism flight
Space tourism is something we here at Engadget have always been pretty fond of in theory -- it is the final frontier, after all -- but the prohibitive (exorbitant, extravagant, ridiculous) $200,000 price tag on a Virgin Galactic flight pretty much ended any small hopes we ever harbored of getting on one. So, would a reduction of about 50 percent be enough to get us to sign up? That's the question that Virginia-based Space Adventures is asking. The company's just announced it's going to offer flights into suborbital space through an exclusive agreement with Armadillo Aerospace, which is currently developing the rockets for the journeys. A trip with Space Adventures is set to cost just $102,000. We still can't afford it, but we're certainly glad to see the prices fall from insane to outrageous. So, what about you? Are you in?
Google honcho Sergey Brin plans first-ever private trip to the ISS
Google co-founder Sergey Brin is about to join an extremely short list of space tourists, according to reports. The search engine-kingpin just dropped a $5 million dollar "investment" on the company Space Adventures, which all but guarantees him a seat on the outfit's next flight in 2011. The trip aboard the Russian Soyuz rocket will take Brin to the ISS in the first-ever private flight to the station (Ubuntu head Mark Shuttleworth has made the trip, though not on a private mission). The company stresses that the ride will be less about tourism and more about commercial exploration, with passengers bringing aboard experiments and taking part in flight operations. Now the only riddle left to solve is whether the last Cylon is Brin or Bezos.[Via Gear Diary]
Space Adventures offering $100 million trip to space
While there's long since been ways to get a piece of your mind (or your best Photoshop effort) launched into space, getting your person up there isn't exactly feasible if your pay stub isn't stamped by NASA. Now, however, Space Adventures is looking to hoist a pair of untrained civilians into space in 2008 and 2009 aboard a Soyuz craft, and the firm will soon be selling seats for the low, low price of $100 million apiece. The Lunar Mission will eventually bring you "to the other side of the moon," and while we're sure the itinerary is quite detailed considering the price of admission, the firm isn't dolling out too much more until you prove your bank account is stocking the required dough.[Thanks, Yossi]
Gates to become richest man in space?
With relative paupers taking jaunts into space at a pretty regular clip these days, it certainly would be no financial burden for the world's richest nerd to indulge his astronautical fantasies, and now a Russian cosmonaut aboard the International Space Station claims that Microsoft founder and Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Bill Gates may be planning to do just that. In an interview broadcast from the ISS, Fyodor Yurchikhin repeated the assertions of current space tourist and former Gates co-worker Charles Simonyi that Mr. Microsoft himself "is also preparing to visit space," although Space Adventures -- which organizes these indulgent expeditions -- says that it has had no contact with Sir Bill so far. So in the absence of any official word from the Gates camp, we can only look to the man's personality for hints as to whether or not this fantastic voyage will take place -- and seeing how there's already been an iPod in orbit, we're pretty sure that Bill won't sleep soundly until all the world's gadget blogs and magazine covers are plastered with glossy pictures of a space Zune. [Via Slashdot]
Space contests take flight, IRS takes notice
It looks like we're in the midst of a space race of a different sort, with no less than three recent contests promising to take would-be space cadets into varying degrees of orbit for free, although it seems that the winners may be in for more than a case of space sickness. Our cautionary tale comes courtesy of Oracle and Space Adventures, who awarded a suborbital spaceflight to one lucky winner, Brian Emmett, only to have him find out he'd have to pay taxes on the $138,000 value of the round-trip flight, forcing him to give up his seat in favor of someone with deeper pockets. While its potential tax burden is unclear, Microsoft is forging ahead with its "Vanishing Point" space contest, set to announce the winner tomorrow, who'll also get a taste of some suborbital action. Those looking to hitch a ride on the cheap aren't entirely out of luck just yet, however, with New Scientist and Audi today announcing their own contest that'll run through April 30th. To enter, you just have to tell 'em what you think is the world's best patented invention, with one lucky winner set to be shot 62 miles above the Earth, decked out in their own personalized suborbital flight suit no less. Those of us on this side of the pond are unfortunately out of luck on this one though, with the contest strictly for U.K. residents only.Read - Space.com, "No Free Ride to Space for Contest Winners"Read - The Register, "Microsoft prepares to shoot geek into space"Read - New Scientist's "Win a trip into space"[Thanks, Matt]
