Spaceport planned for Singapore

[henslee]

Space Adventures, a US company promoting space tourism, on Monday unveiled plans to build a spaceport in Singapore just days after announcing it would build one in the United Arab Emirates.
The $115m Singapore spaceport will host astronaut training, visitor centre and sub-orbital spaceflights that will reach an altitude of 100km, offering a few minutes of weightlessness.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/35f4cdda-a24a-11da-9096-0000779e2340.html

[NVMojo]

1. Singapore was involved in bidding against Dubai for port security

[havocmom]

2. CNN reports spaceprot to be built near southern end of Persian Gulf

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/02/20/space.tourism.ap/index.html

The commercial spaceport would be based in Ras Al-Khaimah near the southern end of the Persian Gulf, and the UAE government has made an initial investment of $30 million, the Arlington, Virginia-based company said in a statement.

The spaceport announcement comes on the heels of Space Adventures' new partnership with an investment firm founded by major sponsors of the Ansari X Prize to develop rocket ships for suborbital flights.

The agreement between Space Adventures and the Texas-based venture capital firm Prodea would help finance suborbital vehicles being designed and built by the Russian aerospace firm Myasishchev Design Bureau.

Space Adventures is best known for sending the first three space tourists to the orbiting international space station for a reported $20 million a person.

Guess earth travel is oh so pre-9-11?

[dysfunctional press]

3. geographically, Singapore seems like a much better choice than the UAE-

the closer the launch is to the equator, the easier to get into orbit.

but then again- they only seem to be talking sub-orbital...is that really "space travel"?

[megatherium]

6. $20 million is a hell of a lot of money to get 62 miles from home. nt

[VegasWolf]

4. Everyone knows America has peaked and will be of minor revelance

for the 21st Century.

[henslee]

5. I went back home this weekend. Seems all me and my old friends did

was drive around, look for places we used to go. They were almost all gone, rpelaced by strip shops. We finally found a classic old rib joint and had some pork sandwiches. All the ugliness was so sad. Just like classic Europe only exists in people's minds, mostly American tourists, the same is true for the U.S.