Fasten your seat belts... space tourism is the next big adventure

 

BERLIN: Will our grandchildren holiday on the moon, or honeymoon in a hotel orbiting Mars? A few dreamers at the International Tourism Fair say space tours for average travellers could happen sooner than we think.

 

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have apparently booked tickets on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Spaceship, due for lift-off in 2010. "If you have $ 20 million lying around, there is a spot available in April next year," says Dieter Isakeit of the manned flight division of the European Space Agency. US millionaire Dennis Tito had paid that amount in 2001 to become the first galactic tourist, spending a week on the International Space Station (ISS).

 

But cheaper trips could be in the offing. Professor Robert Goehlich of Keio University in Yokohama, Japan says short suborbital flights, to experience a few weightless minutes, may take 15 years to materialise. But a true holiday in space would not give a tourist the comforts of Earth in terms of food, living space or safety.

 

Mars and Saturn are so distant it would take new propulsion technology to plan manned travel. But for those too impatient to wait, the travel group European Space Tourist offers four-day trips to the Cosmonaut Training Centre at Star City east of Moscow with zero-gravity simulation flights, for just $6,000 (Rs2.7 lakh).

 

Space tourist Brad Pitt
Age: 43
Otherwise known as: Angelina Jolie’s boyfriend 
Original profession: Chauffeur, a furniture mover, costumed restaurant mascot
Current profession: Actor
Future passion: Taking a tour in space by paying $2 lakh (Rs90 lakh)

 

Space tourist Angelina Jolie
Age: 30
Otherwise known as: Brad Pitt’s girlfriend 
Wanted to become: A funeral director
Current profession: Actor
Future passion: Taking a tour in space by paying $2 lakh (Rs90 lakh)

 

What is Virgin Galactic?
Virgin Galactic is a space tourism company owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group. It plans to offer suborbital spaceflights and later orbital spaceflights.

 

It plans to fly 500 passengers a year at about US$2 lakh each to an altitude of over 100 km with a total weightless time of 7 minutes.

 

Apart from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, actor Sigourney Weaver and socialite Paris Hilton are also reported to have signed up