WHY GO...to experience the vastness and quietness of space!
The first leg of the trip is getting to Moscow, Russia. In Moscow, you partake in cosmonaut training before blasting off in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. You spend about 2 weeks on the International Space Station (ISS), then come home! This is all arranged by a company called, Space Adventures.
Participants receive training in the nitty-gritty of space science and technology, emergency procedures, as well as simulation of the outer space environment! This last part is achieved through centrifuge training that emulates G-force and underwater preparation to emulate the space walk. Scuba certification is required for the underwater prep. Space Survival 101! Once training is complete, you blast off! In my reading, I came across the term, "vomit comet." Yikes! Getting into orbit includes intense physical pressure and, for many, nausea.
For $50 million, you can circle the earth every 90 minutes. You can travel through space at over 17,000 miles per hour, over 200 miles above Earth's surface. You can see the curvature of the planet. You can experience weightlessness. You can even go on a "space walk." This is where you go outside of the space station; just little old you floating in giant space! Wow! Space travelers will be staying with professional astronauts at the International Space Station! What do you do at a space station? Housekeeping, research, and exercise!
Some things in the works for future space travel are...
Virgin Galactic! Virgin Galactic will be offering sub-orbital flights lasting 2 1/2 hours. Sub-orbital flight means you are in space (100 km above the Earth's surface), but you're not going fast enough to be in the Earth's orbit. A Virgin Galactic space odyssey starts out in New Mexico at the world's first commercial space port, Spaceport America!
To prepare for flight, travelers will spend 3 days at Spaceport America in training. Training includes emergency preparedness and becoming familiar with a flight environment. Simulations allow you to become comfy with the process so you can fully enjoy your flight. Virgin isn't promoting this as something only very fit people can do, but a certain level of health and fitness will be necessary to complete training. The flights will only carry several passengers at a time. I can't do a better job at describing the experience than Virgin Galactic does, so here it is...
"A brief moment of quiet before a wave of unimaginable but controlled power surges through the craft. You are instantly pinned back into your seat, overwhelmed but enthralled by the howl of the rocket motor...As you hurtle through the edges of the atmosphere, the large windows show the cobalt blue turning to mauve and indigo and finally to black. The rocket motor has been switched off and it is quiet. But it's not just quiet, it's QUIET. The silence of space is as awe inspiring as was the noise of the rocket just moments earlier. What's really getting your senses screaming now though, is that the gravity which has dominated every movement you've made since the day you were born is not there any more. There is no up and no down and you're out of your seat experiencing the freedom that even your dreams underestimated."
