Latest Space tourism Stories

Seeking an out-of-this-world travel destination?Outer space will rocket into reality as "the" getaway of this century, according to researchers at the University of Delaware and the University of Rome La Sapienza.In fact, the "final frontier" could begin showing up in travel guides by 2010, they predict."In the twenty-first century, space tourism could represent the most significant development experienced by the tourism industry," says Prof. Fred DeMicco, ARAMARK Chair in UD's Hotel,...

With its imminent commercial space launch scheduled for 2010, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic announced plans on Thursday to authorize the construction of five more crafts to carry prospective clients into space.So far, about 80,000 hopeful travelers have deposited more than $31 million toward their ultimate goal of obtaining $200,000 tickets for a journey that promises five minutes in space. On Virgin Galactic's Web site, determined travelers are asked to make a minimum deposit of at...

On Wednesday, Entrepreneur Richard Branson unveiled a model of the spaceship he hopes will be the first to take paying passengers into space on a regular basis.Branson, owner of Virgin Galactic, is one of several commercial enterprises vying to offer the ultimate in sightseeing. He told Reuters that his SpaceShipTwo will start test flights later this year."2008 is going to be the year of the spaceship. We're excited about this, and everything it will do," Branson told reporters at a...

GOLDEN, Colo. -- From a new array of space-enabled technologies to the emerging commercial market for passenger space travel, the commercialization of next-generation space enterprises appears to be well under way. But challenges exist, industry officials said, including making sure that entrepreneurial firms gain proper financial footing and overcoming the legal, regulatory and insurance obstacles that could undermine the profit potential of the emerging commercial space industry....

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The millionaire son of a retired astronaut is about to follow his father into orbit, after buying a seat on a Russian rocket.Richard Garriott, who made his fortune in computer games, is scheduled to blast off aboard a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan in October 2008 on a one-week trip to the international space station.His father, Owen Garriott, 76, spent 59 days aboard Skylab, America's first space station, in 1973 and flew aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 1983.It...

LOS ANGELES -- As a female voice coos, "Welcome to space," six passengers in skintight spacesuits unbuckle their seat belts and somersault in zero gravity, occasionally peeking back at Earth through the private spaceship's large portholes.Virgin Galactic showed off this animated video promoting the weightless joys of commercial space travel at a trade show for experimental aircraft last month. But the excitement was overshadowed three days later when a deadly flash explosion rocked...

MOJAVE, Calif. - An explosion killed two people and critically injured four others at a Mojave Desert airport site used by the pioneering aerospace company that sent the first private manned rocket into space, authorities said. The blast at a Mojave Air and Space Port facility belonging to Scaled Composites LLC also left some toxic material, said Kern County fire Capt. Doug Johnston. Scaled is the Mojave-based builder of SpaceShipOne, the first private manned rocket to reach space, and is...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- When it comes to complaining about poor exchange rates for the U.S. dollar, American tourists traveling to Europe have nothing on tourists headed into space. The cost of flying to the international space station aboard a Russian Soyuz spaceship has increased from $25 million earlier this year to $30 million. Trips planned in 2008 and 2009 will cost $40 million."It's mostly because of the fallen dollar," Eric Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures,...

By STEVE CONNOR Why are we asking this question now? Professor Stephen Hawking has just completed a series of "zero- gravity" dives in an aircraft designed to test weightlessness in space. Professor Hawking, one of the foremost experts on the cosmological theories of gravity and black holes, said he wants to see the Earth from space by going for a ride with Sir Richard Branson's company Virgin Galactic, which is scheduled to offer tourist trips into "space" in two years....

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan -- A Russian rocket carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word blasted off late Saturday from the Baikonur cosmodrome en route to the international space station.The Soyuz rocket, which also carried two cosmonauts, roared into overcast nighttime skies over the bleak Kazakh steppes, bathing the launch pad and dozens of officials and well-wishers a mile away in a glow of flame as it rose vertically then turned downrange.Charles Simonyi, a...