"Space Tourism - Your Shot at Outer Space Exploration"

"Space Tourism - Your Shot at Outer Space Exploration"," If you are not scheduled to fly on the Space Shuttle as a professional astronaut by the Shuttle's retirement date of 2010, maybe space tourism is your thing. You could become a science fiction celebrity. Mohave, you will recall, was the site of SpaceShipOne's X-Prize-winning flights. Picturesque, no? Probably just a negotiating ploy. You could become a teacher. Besides providing great PR and a tax write-off, this marketing strategy gives companies a direct link to the next generation of space travelers through people they presumably admire and respect. The Tokyo Broadcasting System paid a reported $12 million for the flight. As an aside, the Russians rushed a group of Soviet reporters to a space ""bootcamp"" after many griped about a Japanese citizen becoming the first journalist in space. As astronaut Story Musgrave has said, we've got to get spaceflight into the culture, or it will die. Or you could go with a government job. The Europeans, too, are looking to expand their astronaut corps, according to Aviation Week & Space Technology. Virgin Galactic's boss Sir Richard Branson is planning something called ""Astronaut Idol"", in which six contestants will vie for a spot on one of his spaceships. Of course, you COULD win the lottery. An editorial in Ad Astra, the magazine of the National Space Society, suggested it again this past January (2006). The idea didn't originate with Buzz. 99 chance for a trip to the Russian Mir space station (no longer existent). The Founding Great Grandfathers did a little better. Start small. You can fly to the edge of space on a Russian MIG-25 for about $15,000. Any adult, or a child, can attend the U. Space Camp at Huntsville, Alabama for as little as $400. Aided by the ""iron horse"" of the American Space Shuttle and the Russian Soyuz, and all the innovative vehicles of the space tourism industry, outer space is the new Wild West. That ticket to space is practically in hand. TRY SOMETHING NEW JUST CLICK HERE  

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SPACE TOURISM