Irrespective of a Hike in Space Tour Tickets, Feasible Space Flights Might Still Be Available

Is that a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s Charles Simonyi(a software billionaire), trying to practice some superman like moves during his space training. He is a space tourist. Like him, there are many others who are trying to book their space tours as well. It seems like the space tourism tickets have skyrocketed and people are trying hard to get their space in the space shuttle.

Today, the cost of flying to an International Space Station is between $30-$40 million. That is an increase from $20-25million.

Why this increase? Well, mostly due to the fallen dollar value people are getting their hands on the tickets. Eric Anderson, President and CEO of Space Adventures concurs that the price rise in space tour tickets is :

mostly because of the fallen dollar

So, the authorities decided to hike the price up. After all, this is no longer a dream. Billionaires like Charles are being able to turn this dream to reality.

tourists

Previously, world’s first space tourist Denis Tito paid $20 million for his journey to space. South African Space tourist Mark Shuttleworth, paid his way to space following Tito’s trail. It seems like 20 million is an affordable amount for people with space tourism in mind.

I think if Space tour organizations like Space Adventures want to make space tourism popular, they should decrease the price rise. People can still afford the 20 million dollars. However, any more seems to be expensive.

What does this kind of cost cover?

For starters, you have to put down about a 20% deposit, which is still a huge amount. This will be sort of an initiation ceremony to space. Then you will have to pass your physical exams, and eventually go through a training at a Russian space facility. If you clear all this, you are ready for space and have to pay the rest of the amount to confirm your seat in the shuttle.

Current situation with tickets and seats:

NASA is trying hard to increase the number of seats available for space travel keeping in mind safety of the passengers. As of now there are a dozen of potential space tourists booking their way to space for 2008 and 2009 flights to space.

This is indeed an exciting time for this industry. NASA has also been brainstorming ideas for mass transit system in space. So soon enough, space flights might become feasible.

Image Credits: Thejo

Tags: space tour, Charles, simonyi, skyrocket