Latest Space tourism Stories

MOSCOW -- A Russian rocket will take Brazil's first astronaut into space next year for a fee of up to $20 million, the two countries agreed on Tuesday.With the U.S. shuttle fleet grounded, Russian spacecraft bear responsibility for shipping crew and supplies to the International Space Station -- but they can sell spare seats to other nations and space tourists.Former test pilot Marcus Pontes said he would spend about 10 days in space, whereas the two-member Russian-U.S. crew he would fly with...

By Shamil ZhumatovNEAR ARKALYK, Kazakhstan (Reuters) - A Russian cosmonaut, a U.S. astronaut and an overjoyed American space tourist returned safely to Earth on Tuesday when their Soyuz capsule bumped down in a near-perfect landing in Kazakhstan.Footage beamed to Moscow mission control from the Kazakh steppe showed the recovery team opening the hatches of the spaceship and tugging the three men in their white spacesuits back onto firm land.Millionaire scientist and entrepreneur Gregory Olsen...

By Shamil Zhumatov NEAR ARKALYK, Kazakhstan (Reuters) - A Russian cosmonaut, a U.S. astronaut and an overjoyed American space tourist returned safely to Earth on Tuesday when their Soyuz capsule bumped down in a near-perfect landing in Kazakhstan. Footage beamed to Moscow mission control from the Kazakh steppe showed the recovery team opening the hatches of the spaceship and tugging the three men in their white spacesuits back onto firm land. Millionaire scientist and entrepreneur...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian Soyuz capsule touched down in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, bringing a Russian cosmonaut, a U.S. astronaut and an American space tourist back to Earth, mission control said. The two-man crew returned home after half a year in orbit on the International Space Station. Millionaire scientist and entrepreneur Gregory Olsen spent just over a week with them in space, paying a reported $20 million for the trip.

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A Russian-U.S. two-man crew who spent the last six months aboard the International Space Station and the world's third space tourist headed back to Earth in a Russian Soyuz capsule on Monday. Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and U.S. astronaut John Phillips, the only station crew to host space shuttle astronauts since the 2003 Columbia shuttle accident, and space tourist Gregory Olsen undocked from the space station around 5:49 p.m....

MOSCOW -- The seven-day space sojourn of a U.S. millionaire scientist came to a close as he and a two-man Russian-American crew prepared Monday to return to Earth from the international space station.The ride back in the Russian Soyuz capsule is likely to be an exciting conclusion to Gregory Olsen's space station visit - the third trip by a private citizen. The Soyuz is to make a beeline home, covering the approximately 250 miles from the station to Earth in just 3 1/2 hours.The craft is to...

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Several thousand space enthusiasts swarmed to the city's airport for a glimpse of a future in which you might just as easily book a rocket to space as you would a plane to Las Vegas. The final day of X Prize Cup Week in New Mexico on Sunday drew a throng of would-be astronauts, entrepreneurs and curiosity seekers. They milled about the wind-swept airport grounds transformed for the afternoon into a Tomorrowland-type theme park. The organizers' goals were to show off what...

WASHINGTON -- The first private space ship took its place Wednesday next to Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, a hoped-for symbol of a new era of space tourism alongside the icon of trans-Atlantic flight.SpaceShipOne's designer, Burt Rutan, and its financier, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) co-founder Paul Allen, were on hand as the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum took ownership of the 28-foot star-spangled spacecraft.A year ago, Rutan and Allen captured the $10 million...

WASHINGTON -- The first privately built craft to fly into space became a museum piece on Wednesday, as its creators aim for an eight-seat vehicle to carry passengers to "that beautiful black sky."A year and a day after SpaceShipOne clinched the $10 million Ansari X Prize by flying to an altitude of 62 milestwice within a 14-day period, the pioneer vessel was unveiled at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.It hangs between Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, which made the...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A rich entrepreneur scientist who bought his own ticket to the international space station said from orbit Tuesday that the trip was worth the millions of dollars he paid, and his only fear on launch day was not going."I'm having a great time. I mean, this is a dream come true," Gregory Olsen said at a news conference broadcast from the space station."This is my fourth day and I'm really enjoying it," he added. "Just to look out and see the...