Through hardship to the stars

What difficulties do you have to go through to become a space tourist? Today, in offices, institutes and even in factories, a whole generation of people is working, dreaming of flying into space. All successful young people who start a business, invent new creative solutions or work on drawings and diagrams, grew up on the books of Lem, Asimov, Harrison, films and television series about space. All of us, with mother’s milk, absorbed that apple trees would bloom on Mars, and real lunaparks would appear on the Moon. In childhood, when we looked at the stars, we dreamed that we adults would fly to neighboring planets on vacation, and someone would be lucky to become a real cosmic Columbus. Alas, it did not work out yet. We spend money on iPhones, take a mortgage, buy cars and drive girls to sushi bars, and, it seems, we no longer dream about space. Meanwhile the first space tourist went into orbit on April 28, 2001! Dennis Tito circled the Earth 28 times and spent a week aboard the ISS. Returning from orbit, he said: “This is the greatest adventure in my life. I traveled to heaven and soared like an angel, looking down at Earth. He knew that it would be a risky adventure, and was preparing for the worst. However, all six days I experienced euphoria! ”

Thanks to Space Adventure, space travel has become available not only to astronauts, but also to almost ordinary mortals. They have already organized 8 successful starts since 2001. The standard travel program includes a medical examination, training and preparation of a tourist for the flight, and the actual implementation of the flight itself for up to 10 days, of which at least 6 travelers will spend on the ISS. It is also possible to deliver the necessary goods for the implementation of the scientific program. But spacewalking is seen as an additional service and costs an additional $ 15 million.

With the help of Space Adventure, in addition to Dennis Tito, his colleague from South Africa, Mark Shuttleworth, already traveled to space, followed by businessman Gregory Olsen, but with him everything was not just like that, at first he was not allowed to fly for medical reasons, but later for some time they were still allowed to travel. And on September 18, 2006, the first cosmotourist - American Anoushe Ansari went into space, almost a year later, in April 2007, another tourist went to conquer space - Charles Simoni, but, unlike previous tourists, he flew with a scientific purpose: commissioned by the European Space Agency, he was supposed to study the effect of weightlessness on blood, as well as on his own scientific program, only about the effect of radiation. By the way, two years later, Simoni went again. Sixth Cosmotourist - Millionaire Richard Garriott, the son of former cosmonaut Owen Garriott, and also to conduct a series of experiments, one of which was the cultivation of protein crystals. The eighth tourist, Guy Laliberte flew in 2009. But the ninth space tourist was supposed to be the English singer Sar Brightman, but literally in May of this year she refused to fly, citing family circumstances.

But what about those of us who aren't an international circus tycoon or an adventurer with money? Will space tourism ever become a reality for us? Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Galactic, says confidently, “Yes!” Since last year, Branson’s company has been testing a new type of spacecraft called “SpaceShipTwo” with the goal of making space flights less expensive and therefore more affordable. Each flight will be able to accommodate six passengers and will last two and a half hours in a suborbital space (110 kilometers above the Earth). Once there, passengers will be able to swim freely in zero gravity and enjoy what Virgin White's CEO George Whites calls “transformative experiences.” Continents, oceans and clouds will float from below, and there will be endless space above your head. True, in a hurry to buy a ticket for the first flight, we do not advise you. In the fall of 2014, performing the 55th test flight, the ship crashed due to the error of one of the pilots. But the Virgin Galactic did not despair and announced their readiness to start new trials this year.

If you firmly decided to spend a weekend in orbit of the Earth, you need to familiarize yourself with the mandatory requirements for space tourists.
The following categories of citizens are not allowed into space:
1. Criminals. Citizens with a criminal record, the road to space ordered. It is almost impossible to get around this restriction, since information about each astronaut, including tourists, is checked by Interpol.
2. Addicts and alcoholics, too, cannot fly into space. In general, any confirmed dependence puts an end to the cosmic dream.
3. A subscription not to leave the country is valid even for space tourists. Thus, citizens related to state secrets or debtors based on the bailiffs will not be able to go into space.

What should be a real astronaut?
Each astronaut is obliged to speak colloquial English, since communication on the ISS or a suborbital ship of a private company takes place on it. There are requirements not only for the state of health, but also for the height and weight of the candidate:
Height: not lower than 150 cm, not higher than 190 cm
Maximum foot length: 29.5 cm
Maximum shoulder width: 52 cm
Weight: not less than 50 and not more than 90 kg

After passing honey. commissions, future tourists are asked to pass the following standards:
Running:
Sprint: 60 m in 8.5 sec.
Shuttle run: 10 x 10 in 26 sec.
Running 1 km in 3 min. 35 seconds.
Pullups:
On the horizontal bar - 14 times.
On the bars - 20 times.
Swimming: 800 m in 19 min 00 sec.

After passing all the standards, the space tourist starts special training, which includes such exotic things as “survival in the forest”, training in a wind tunnel and scuba diving pool, as well as simulators simulating overload at the start and entry into the atmosphere.

Why are space tourists needed?
Any rational person understands that space is an unexpected child of the Cold War. Space has no commercial profit, which means that it does not make sense for modern powers to develop space exploration. At this stage, only philanthropists or space tourists can help find money and at least somehow develop this dear to the heart and the direction that science needs. More recently, a space flight cost $ 20 million! Now - much cheaper, from 100 thousand to 200 thousand euros. This is primarily due to competition in the space tourism market - several private firms and government programs in the US and Russia have already been registered, and secondly, with an increase in demand for this service. One shuttle or rocket eats the same amount of fuel for one tourist or for four. In the development of multi-seat commercialspace buses. Virgin Galactic's spacebus has already been tested in outer space. The first flight on it is expected in the fall of 2015. The ticket price was 250 thousand dollars. Tickets have already been purchased by more than 700 people from all over the world. It should be noted that initially the price was much lower - 90 thousand dollars, but due to the huge demand for the service, the price had to be increased in order to somehow restrain the flow of comers.

Space hotel
Currently, the first module of a real space hotel is located in the assembly shop. The world's first commercial space station will be launched in the third quarter of 2016. By the way, this is a domestic development. When the project was just beginning, the declared price for a five-day stay in it was as much as 4 million dollars, now it is only 100,000 euros. If the trend continues, it is quite possible that space tourism will become accessible even for the middle class.

To space in a balloon
It turns out that one can go to near space not only with the help of a spaceship. The American company World View, promises to arrange the sending of space tourists to the stratosphere using a special balloon, and has already successfully tested in February this year. For the first year, the company plans to carry out 50 two-hour flights. As a bonus, passengers will be provided with Internet access and cocktails. Such devices are designed for 6 passengers and two crew members, and the lifting height will be about 37 km. The price of one place has not yet been announced.

If you decide to fly one day into space, feel free to contact HottabychHe will not only answer all your questions, but will also help you to contact the leading space travel agencies as quickly as possible, and will also help to correctly prepare all the documents. And in general, contact us for any questions, we can do anything!