Russians Get Ready For Space Tourism
Eager to grasp a share in the fledgling space tourist market, a leading Russian aerospace company presented a mockup Thursday of a "space plane" that would be give an adventurer willing to pay $100,000 the chance to experience three-minutes in zero gravity on the edge of space.
The three-seat Cosmopolis-XXI (C-21) ship accommodates a pilot and two passengers and relies on technologies developed for the Soviet Buran space shuttle, which made a flawless unmanned maiden flight in 1988 before being scrapped for lack of funds.
"Our firm has developed the Buran and put its technology into this project," said Valery Novikov, head designer at the Mycsarhchev Design Bureau, which is developing the suborbital ship on order from Russia's private Suborbital Corporation working together with Space Adventures, a company specializing in space tourism.
Arlington, Virginia-based Space Adventures helped the first space tourist Dennis Tito broker his flight to the International Space Station atop a Russian Soyuz rocket. Tito reportedly paid the Russian space agency $20 million for an eight-day trip to space last year, and the next space tourist, South African Internet tycoon Mark Shuttleworth, is scheduled to fly to the station in April.
Space Adventures President and CEO Eric Anderson said Thursday that about 100 people have already booked seats on a future suborbital ship that is expected to become operational in three years. "After today we'll have twice as many clients," he added cheerfully.
Space Adventures said in a statement that a recent study found the suborbital space tourist market could generate annual revenues of over $1 billion. The company is accepting bookings for suborbital flights departing by 2005 at $98,000 per seat.
The C-21 will be mounted on top of the M-55 carrier aircraft that will take it to the altitude of 17,000 meters (56,100 feet). After the ship is released from the carrier, its own solid-fuel rocket engine will propel it to an altitude of just over 100 kilometers (62 miles) for three minutes in weightlessness, after which the C-21 will slide back into the atmosphere and land like a conventional plane. The entire mission from takeoff to landing will take about one hour.
The ship's mockup was presented at an air base in Zhukovsky near Moscow that has served as Russia's top flight test center for many decades. The tiny ship is the size of a small sports plane, but looks less cramped inside than the claustrophobic Russian Soyuz space capsule.
"It's quite comfortable for the crew," Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov said after posing for cameras inside the C-21 mockup. Polyakov holds the world's record for the longest space mission — 438 days in 1994-1995.
Novikov said the C-21 will use the engines of the same type as mounted on Russian ballistic missiles and have life-support and safety systems that have been extensively tested for the Buran. "We will guarantee full safety to passengers," Novikov said.
The ship will fly in an automatic mode but the pilot would be ready to take control if needed, he said.
Suborbital Corporation chief Sergei Kostenko said it would cost $10 million to build and test the C-21, while the entire program for acquiring two carrier aircraft and seven suborbital ships will cost approximately $60 million. Kostenko said the project is financed by Western investors whom he refused to name.
Many companies in different countries have advertised plans for building a suborbital ship for space tourists, and U.S. Airways has offered clients a seat on the first suborbital spacecraft for 10,000,000 frequent flier miles. Novikov said his bureau's experience in designing Buran places it far ahead of others.
The project authors insist the brief flight will require only several days of training compared to many months of grueling preparation to space flights, and will be worth the hefty price.
"A passenger will experience weightlessness and enjoy the view of the Earth from space," Novikov said. "It will be a grandiose experience."
By Vladimir Isachenkov