Tourism firm to offer space rides for $102,000

[Elmore Furth]

What a rush! Yee Haaah!

_07102009

An American space tourism company that arranges multimillion-dollar treks to the International Space Station for the ultra-wealthy has struck a new deal to offer suborbital spaceflights for nearly half the going cost. The price is still steep, though: $102,000 for the works.

Virginia-based firm Space Adventures has signed an exclusive deal with Armadillo Aerospace, a Texas-based company founded by computer game entrepreneur John Carmack, to sell space tourist seats on new suborbital rocket ships that are currently in development at Armadillo.

Flights aboard Armadillo's vertically-launched rocket ship in development will depart from a spaceport in the United States and take passengers to regions above 62 miles (100 kilometers), where space begins. After the engine is shut down, those aboard will experience up to five minutes of weightlessness and will have the opportunity to gaze out at 360-degree views into space and Earth's horizon below.

And while the $102,000 price tag for one of Space Adventure's suborbital spaceflights may seem hefty, it is nearly $100,000 less than rival company Virgin Galactic's asking price for a seat on SpaceShipTwo, which is undergoing captive-carry tests at the moment.

Tourism firm to offer space rides for $102,000

[DJ13]

1. I can see it now..

"To boldly go where no deal has gone before...."

[rucky]

3. Orbitz, too.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

2. Getting cheaper all the time.

[SheilaT]

4. We won't really have a truly

viable space program until reasonably average people are able to go into space.

Yes, I understand that $102,000 puts a trip into space out of the reach of the vast majority of us, but it's a start.

[unabelladonna]

5. some people have too much money....

vulgar.