Space Adventures

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Space Adventures, Ltd.
Type Private
Founded 1998
Headquarters Vienna, Virginia, USA
Industry Commercial Spaceflight
Products space tourism
Website www.spaceadventures.com

Space Adventures, Ltd. is a space tourism company that provides access to space to private citizens.

Contents

[edit] Background

Eric C. Anderson is the president and CEO of Space Adventures. He co-founded Space Adventures in 1998 with several other entrepreneurs from the aerospace, adventure travel and entertainment industries and has managed the company over the past several years, selling more than $120M in space tourist flights.[1]

Mark Shuttleworth in space
Mark Shuttleworth in space

The company sells a variety of flights such as Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training and actual spaceflights. In May 2001, it sent American businessman Dennis Tito to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for a reported $20 million payment, making him the first space tourist in history.[1] South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth did the same in April 2002,[1] becoming the 'First African in Space'. Gregory Olsen became the third private citizen to travel to the ISS in October 2005,[1], followed by the first female space tourist, Anousheh Ansari, who completed her 10-day orbital mission in September 2006.[2] Charles Simonyi, an ex-executive at Microsoft who managed the Office product group became the world's fifth space tourist in April 2007.[1]

In 2008, two people are expected to travel to the ISS: Russian parliament member Vladimir Gruzdev, and Richard Garriott, the son of scientist and astronaut Owen K. Garriott.[3][4][5] Originally scheduled first, Garriott's trip is expected to be postponed to give priority to Gruzdev's flight.[3][5] In March of 2008 made acquisition of Zero Gravity Corporation (http://www.gozerog.com/sa_acquisition.html).

[edit] Explorer suborbital vehicle

Main articles: Space Adventures C-21 and Space Adventures Explorer

The company, along with Prodea and FSA, is currently developing a suborbital space transportation system, called Explorer. The vehicle has been designed by Myasishchev Design Bureau, a Russian aerospace organization which has developed a wide-array of aircraft and space systems.

The Explorer aerospace system will consist of a flight-operational carrier aircraft, the M-55X, and a rocket spacecraft. It will have the capacity to transport up to five people to space.[6]

[edit] Spaceports

Space Adventures is involved in the development of two commercial spaceports, one in the United Arab Emirates and the other in Singapore. The UAE spaceport is to be located in Ras al-Khaimah, located less than an hour drive from Dubai. [7] In addition to suborbital spaceflights, Spaceport Singapore will operate astronaut training facilities and a public education and interactive visitor center. Spaceport Singapore visitors will be able to experience Zero-Gravity flights, G-force training in a centrifuge, and simulated space walks in a neutral buoyancy tank.[8] However, the company has found it difficult to attract funding and partners for the Singapore project.[9]

[edit] Spacewalk

On July 21, 2006 the company announced that they would begin offering a spacewalk option to their clients traveling to the ISS. The addition of the spacewalk, which would allow participants to spend up to 1.5 hours outside of the space station, would cost about $15 million and would lengthen the orbital mission approximately six to eight days. The spacewalk would be completed in the Russian designed Orlan space suit. The training for the spacewalk would require an extra month of training on top of the six months already required.[10]


[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Kim Hart (2007-04-21). Travel agency launches tourists on out-of-this-world adventures. Seattle Times. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
  2. ^ Back to Earth: Expedition 13 astronauts, Ansari to leave ISS. USA Today (2006-09-28). Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
  3. ^ a b Reuters (2007). Next space tourist is second-generation astronaut (English). Reuters. Retrieved on October 7, 2007.
  4. ^ MSNBC News (2007). Russian tycoon-explorer may go into space (English). MSNBC News. Retrieved on October 7, 2007.
  5. ^ a b AFP (2007). Russian MP to become 'space tourist' in 2008: report (English). AFP. Retrieved on October 7, 2007.
  6. ^ Alan Boyle (2006-2-17). New group to develop passenger spaceship. MSNBC. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
  7. ^ Building a Tourist Spaceport. Wired (2006-02-19). Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
  8. ^ Tariq Malik (2006-06-13). Spaceport Singapore: One-Stop Shopping for the Future Space Tourist. Space.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
  9. ^ 'US space tourism company short of financing, partners for Singapore spaceport'. International Herald Tribune (2007-09-11). Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
  10. ^ Tariq Malik (2006-06-21). Space Adventures Offers $15 Million Spacewalks for ISS Visitors. Space.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.

[edit] External links

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