Spaceflight
enthusiasts eager for a taste of the cosmonaut lifestyle can now vie for a new
experience: backup space tourist.
The Virginia-based
tourism firm Space Adventures is offering a $3 million ticket for the backup
seat on an October 2008 flight to the International Space Station (ISS). Sitting
in the prime seat is Texas-based computer
game developer Richard Garriott, who is paying about $30 million to ride a
Russian Soyuz rocket to the orbital laboratory next fall.
Space
Adventures officials announced the new ticket Thursday and told SPACE.com
that it is the first time a backup crewmember slot is available as an official product.
The selected backup crewmember will be an active participant in Garriott's
mission and be featured in a documentary TV series, the space tourism firm said.
"I
want to involve as many people as possible in my mission and this is one of the
most innovative ways to do so," Garriott said in the announcement.
"Not only will the backup crewmember be certified as a fully-trained
cosmonaut and be named to a mission
crew, a distinction that less than 1,000 people have ever had; but, our
combined participation is a step forward in the progression of our expansion
into the cosmos."
Space
Adventures is currently the only firm offering tickets to Earth orbit aboard
Soyuz spacecraft launched by Russia's Federal Space Agency. Garriott will be
the sixth paying visitor to the ISS and the first child of a U.S. astronaut to
fly in space. His father, former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, flew aboard the
U.S. Skylab space station and the space shuttle Columbia.
The concept
of a backup space tourist is not new.
Last year, American
entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari served as the backup for Japanese businessman
Daisuke Enomoto. When medical issues prevented Enomoto from
launching to the ISS in September 2006, Ansari stepped into his seat as
prime private spaceflyer.
"If I had
not trained as a backup crew member in 2006, then I would never have flown to
space that year," said Ansari, who became the world's fourth space tourist and
the first woman to pay for an orbital flight. "The training was exhilarating
and ultimately prepared me for my flight which I'm thankful for."
Space
Adventures CEO Eric Anderson said the $3 million price tag for a backup space
tourist slot can also be used as credit for a future orbital or even lunar
spaceflight.
"Participation
as an official backup crew member is a once in a lifetime opportunity for an
individual, or a company sponsoring an individual, to experience first-hand how
our clients train for spaceflight," Anderson said in a statement, adding
that the ticket price includes spaceflight training costs and accommodations at
Russia's Star City-based cosmonaut center.
Garriott
will launch to the ISS with the space station's Expedition 18 crew and return
with the orbital laboratory's outgoing Expedition 17 shift. He will be the
first space tourist to the ISS since American entrepreneur Charles Simonyi's April
2007 flight and will begin training in January.
Garriott is
chronicling his spaceflight training and mission at his personal Web site: www.richardinspace.com.
advertisement
