Although it's not yet possible for tourists to rocket off into space, they now have the option of training alongside cosmonauts and astronauts who are preparing to do so. A Seattle-based travel company is offering what it calls a "week-long adventure" at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.

The package, offered by Zegrahm Expeditions, costs $14,950 per person and includes a weightlessness flight aboard a Russian Ilyushin-76 aircraft and a spin in a centrifuge, among other activities.

The company has been offering the deal for several weeks, and so far about 15 people have signed up, according to vice president Scott Fitzsimmons. The tours will begin in October 1999.

"This is the only space training program for civilians in the world," says Fitzsimmons, who emphasizes that participants will have the same instructors and equipment used by Russian cosmonauts (and by visiting American astronauts). By contrast, he says, traditional space camp programs are "more sort of based on fantasy."

The package can be purchased directly from Zegrahm or through agents such as Welch Travel.