Space

By Rebecca Hernandez

Virgin Galactic have a pretty logo.

Antarctica not adventurous enough for you? Bored by huge volcanoes or fossils of prehistoric animals? Perhaps the only truly satisfying holiday destination for you would be the final frontier itself: space.

Ever since American multi-millionaire Dennis Tito funded his own space flight in 2001 aboard a Soyuz spacecraft (originally built for the Soviet Manned Lunar program) and visited the International Space Station (ISS) for seven days, the public has been fascinated by the idea of a space holiday.

The flight was put together by Space Adventures, a ‘space tourism’ company that has so far hosted five really rich people, in addition to Tito, into space. The company currently charges an sky-high £15 million for a space flight, and flights to the ISS are full until 2009.

Other companies are jumping on the space tourism bandwagon as well; in fact the industry is more developed than you might think.

In addition to designing space craft, numerous companies are already designing space hotels, space islands, and even space clothing lines that look fashionable in weightless environments.

On a budget? Why not go on a day trip to space? In 2004, SpaceShipOne, funded by Virgin Galactic (yes, part of THAT Virgin company) won the coveted X prize, a £5 million prize which went to the first private company to design and fly an aircraft surpassing 62 miles in altitude. The company plans to begin commercial passenger flights which travel past the official Earth-space boundary. The flights, which will last 2.5 hours, will take passengers to an altitude of about 68 miles and reach a speed of Mach 3. All this for around £100,000. A bit cheaper than the seven-day package to the International Space Station, but perhaps not as many bragging rights.

Time required: as long as possible.

Money: £££££££... ££££... £££££... £

More information: Space Adventures and Virgin Galactic

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