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People looking for up-close encounters
Space tourism coming of age

By Anne Straub
Brevard Technical Journal

Photo courtesy NASA, © 2002.

A discussion on the agenda at the International Space Symposium this month might have elicited cynical snickers a decade ago.

How times have changed.

"Time to Fly: Space Tourism Comes of Age" is on the schedule, and it's no joke. "Five years ago - certainly 10 years - when it was brought up at conferences, it was really a smile and a laugh," said Steve Eisenhart, vice president of policy and public affairs for the Space Foundation. "Certainly, it's gone beyond a smile and a laugh now."

The Colorado-based foundation is organizing the symposium to discuss all aspects of space business. "We were looking at how space tourism fits into space business," Eisenhart said. The symposium runs Sept. 10-13 in Toulouse, France.

Space tourism has come to fruition for the Russians, who are generating revenue by offering a seat on flights to the international space station for a $20 million price tag. Last year, American millionaire Dennis Tito became the first paying space tourist. He was followed by South African millionaire Mark Shuttleworth, who finished a 10-day mission in May.

But space tourism isn't just for millionaires, advocates say. "There are a number of space tourism activities that people can participate in here and now," said Eric Anderson, president of Space Adventures and a member of the symposium's panel. The company helped facilitate the trips by Tito and Shuttleworth, and offers a variety of space tourism options for those with leaner vacation budgets.

One unusual option isn't available yet and still will be pricey, but more attainable than the orbital flights. The company is working on offering sub-orbital flights on private aircraft that would take participants more than 100 kilometers above the Earth. The flight would last about an hour, and tourists would experience weightlessness and view the planet from space.

More than 100 potential customers have signed up for the flights, which Anderson expects to be able to offer within three to four years. Price tag: $100,000.

That's in line with Space Adventure research into what people are willing to spend on high-end adventure travel, Anderson said. "It's a small market but it's a lot bigger than the market for a $20 million ride to the space station," he said.

The company also offers less-expensive adventures that don't involve leaving Earth's atmosphere, including VIP tours of Kennedy Space Center with an astronaut for an escort; Soyuz spacecraft training in Russia; flights on supersonic jets; and zero-gravity training.

Still, Anderson maintains the plum ride to the space station won't stay out of reach for those of lesser means forever. "Yes, it's very expensive, but so is any new technology when it first becomes available," said Anderson, a former aerospace engineer.

"I would argue that space flight is easier than aviation," he said, noting the short span of time between the first man in space in 1961 and the first man on the moon just eight years later. Compare that to early flights by the Wright brothers at the beginning of the 20th century. "At the end of the decade, they were no further along," Anderson said. A dose of American capitalism might be part of what it takes to spur the process along. Aerospace consultant Lori Garver is no millionaire, but she's working toward a flight to the space station nonetheless. She's taking the route of raising commercial sponsorships to finance the trip, like 'N Sync singer and potential space traveler Lance Bass. Garver, a former NASA associate administrator of policy and planning, began working on the concept of space flight paid through sponsorship at her employer, management consultant DFI International in Washington, D.C. She started proposing the idea to colleagues, trying to get one to volunteer to try out the idea.

"Everybody here turned to me and said, 'Lori, you're the one who has to go,'" said Garver, a 42-year-old mother of two who has become known as the AstroMom. Garver passed medical examinations and began training in Russia, but the project still is waiting for complete funding. She also is participating in the panel in Toulouse this month.

She hopes that comes from companies who would see the marketing advantage of helping an ordinary citizen fulfill a dream, or even filming a commercial in space. Radio Shack, which is financially sponsoring Bass and Garver in their attempts to get a seat on the Soyuz spacecraft, filmed a TV commercial on the space station last year.

"Astronauts can't endorse products or film commercials," Garver said. She could. "We know that what these advertisers really wanted was an English speaker up there."

For now, candidates for flights to the space station remain few. But accessible space tourism at Kennedy Space Center is seeing a surge in interest.

"There's never been more interest in launches than there has been this year," said Dan LeBlanc, vice president of operations and marketing for the company that operates the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Special interest tours that go more in-depth than other KSC tours are seeing a peak in popularity. KSC's "Dine with an Astronaut" programs also are doing well.

"People are looking for those up-close encounters with space," LeBlanc said.

He joins others who speculate that today's space tourists might pave the way for broader opportunity in the future. He compares the situation to exploration of North America by Europeans. Columbus, sponsored by Spain, landed on the continent. Many years later, Jamestown was founded. "It was basically a bunch of rich guys from England looking for some adventure. Maybe space will go somewhat the same way," LeBlanc said.

Neil Armstrong and John Glenn could be compared with Columbus, he said. And Bass? "Maybe Lance Bass is like one of the rich guys who settled Jamestown."