Orbital space tourism takes you around the Earth every 90 minute orbit. Sub-orbital space tourism is available from the US, taking passengers straight up beyond 50+ miles, providing a short period of weightlessness, before returning them to the spaceport. Soon, thousands of tourists will be able to go into space in this way.
In both kinds of space tourism, the 62 mile "boundary" of space is exceeded. In orbital spaceflight the altitude may be around 200 miles. The main difference, however, is that once in orbit an orbital spacecraft remains at that altitude, travels at 17,500 miles per hour and circles the Earth every 90 minutes; the sub-orbital flight, however goes straight up and down and only remains outside the atmosphere for a few minutes.
A typical sub-orbital flight will take about an hour, with the period above the atmosphere being of the order of ten minutes. An orbital flight can remain almost indefinitely in space, but in practice most orbital space tourism flights last about two weeks before re-entry.
It’s rather close. There is no actual definite boundary to the Earth’s atmosphere; it merely gets thinner with altitude, but the internationally recognized altitude to qualify for the term "astronaut" has been accepted as 62 miles or 100 km. In the US, a lower limit of 50 miles was adopted by the USAF for its own pioneer airmen who were flying X-Planes such as the X-15.
It is not without risk to venture into space. As with the early days of aviation, several people have lost their lives in the early pursuit of spaceflight, all of them government astronauts. In 2014, one of the test pilots for the Virgin Galactic SS2 spacecraft lost his life while conducting a test flight, and his fellow pilot received severe injuries. Now that over 50 years have passed since the dawn of the space age, many lessons have been learned to improve safety, so that now it is considered safe enough to offer to the public. But, as with other potentially risky sports such as sky diving, bungee jumping, skiing and scuba diving, or, even riding roller coasters, it is never totally risk-free.
Mike Melvill with SpaceShipOne after flying it into space in 2004 during the Ansari XPRIZE competition.
Orbital space tourism currently costs over $30M for a two week experience, but the flight opportunities are rare. The initial sub-orbital space tourism flights, from Virgin Galactic, cost about $200,000 to include several days of training at the spaceport leading up to the actual spaceflight experience on the final day. Blue Origin is also offering sub-orbital rides, but have not publicly announced their prices.
Training for orbital space tourism flights using the Soyuz spacecraft currently takes at least 6 months and is conducted in Russia. Sub-orbital spaceflight training requires only a day or two.
The fitness standards for space tourists, especially for sub-orbital spaceflights, are much less than for government astronauts. You don’t have to be Superman..or Wonderwoman. However, there will be some medical screening to ensure that all selected tourists will be able to enjoy their experience. The exact screening approach is still being developed.
Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are offering flights. Orbital flights are already offered by Russian government agencies, and can be arranged by US travel agencies such as Incredible Adventures and Space Adventures. They are also provided by such US operators as SpaceX.
The Russian orbital flights currently take place using the Soyuz launch vehicle from Baikonur in Kazahkstan, and may also eventually take place from Kourou in French Guiana. Virgin Galactic performed its sub-orbital test flights initially from Mojave, California, then later moved to Spaceport America in New Mexico. They are also considering launches from a range of other countries, including Sweden and Australia. Blue Origin conducts its flights from its own private launch range in Texas. There are also many proposed spaceports across the US, such as in Oklahoma, that may develop as the space tourism industry emerges. The UK is also considering spaceports.
Derek Webber at Spaceport America in New Mexico in 2010
Sub-orbital flights provide a relatively limited amount of time in space in which to experience the wonderment of zero-g, take photographs of the curved horizon set against the blackness of space, and marvel at the details of the Earth far below. In the case of orbital flights, then there is generally a week or two in which to take in the experience. With a complete circuit of the Earth every 90 minutes, the orbital space tourist can witness 16 sunrises and sunsets each day, and eventually fly over most of the territory on the planet (depending on the precise orbit chosen). Imagine looking down at your home town, or Paris, or New York, or the Grand Canyon from space!
Yes. In fact there are already two prototype hotels in orbit, being tested by Bigelow Aerospace of Nevada, USA. Other companies, such as Galactic Suites based in Spain, are also proposing orbital space hotels. Meanwhile, all of the orbital space tourists to date have gone to the government space station laboratories, such as Mir or the ISS, for their stay.
Because of the limited duration of sub-orbital space flights, only orbital space tourists will seriously need to consider this, and it will be covered in their training. However, because of the potential impact on fellow travelers, it is safe to say here that the answer to all three parts of this question is "carefully"!
The Soyuz spacecraft used for orbital spaceflight were designed and built in Russia. Spacecraft developed for sub-orbital space tourism, such as the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo, and the Blue Origin New Shepard. have all been developed as commercial ventures. The US government department that does have oversight for regulation of this industry is the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA-AST). Full advantage is taken, in drafting the regulations, of NASA’s unsurpassed space travel expertise.
There are some international laws that govern use of outer space in general. In addition, at the US Federal level, the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act (CSLAA) of 2004 sets out the regulatory framework for space tourism operations, including licenses and permits. The main focus of the US legislation is to protect the uninvolved public, and ensure that those who want to become space tourists are fully informed of the risks, and sign indemnification documents accordingly. The regulations also contain guidelines on crew training, and procedures to enable the flight testing to take place, etc.
From the top of the trajectory of a sub-orbital spaceflight, it is possible to see 700 miles in all directions. At 62 miles altitude, you look down on cloud tops that are nearly 60 miles below, with the Earth itself beneath. The horizon is curved. The sky is black, even at midday. You can see just how relatively thin the region occupied by the Earth’s atmosphere is. The precise views, of course, will depend on the geographic location of the launching spaceport, and the kind of cloud cover at the time of flight. From orbit at 200 miles, you can see to a range of 1,200 miles, and can eventually look down from this moving vantage point on all the features and cities of the globe through time on a succession of orbits, both by day and by night.
Is it uncomfortable or scary to go on a big rollercoaster? Some would say yes, and that is a big part of their reason for going! Soyuz orbital flights provide very cramped accommodation until the passengers reach their orbital destination of the space station or hotel, where they can stretch out. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is more roomy. All space flights involve periods of high g-forces and vibration during launch and landing, and zero-g once in space. The actual amounts of these g-forces, and their duration, vary with the specific spacecraft, with the most benign experiences being associated with the sub-orbital craft.
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo suspended beneath its mothercraft WhiteKnightTwo
At present, for the orbital flights, only one space tourist can be flown at a time. With the onset of sub-orbital space tourism, however, around 6 to 8 tourists can be flown at a time, and your travel agent will be able to make arrangements to ensure that you and your friends can go on the same flight.
There are no regulations at present that have any age restrictions, whether for too young or for too old. There will be minor adaptations of space hardware and procedures to make it possible for kids to fly safely into space.
Weightlessness is a benign environment for folk with missing limbs.The famous late British physicist Steven Hawking, who had the debilitating condition of motor neuron disease, happily undertook several zero-g flights in a training aircraft and had hoped to go into space when Virgin Galactic started flying passengers.
For orbital spaceflight, a Russian space suit is used for Soyuz and the SpaceX spacesuit for Dragon. For sub-orbital space travel this is not specified in the regulations at present, and each operator is still evaluating its requirements.
Back in 2004, a competition was held to see who could come up with the first spacecraft built without government funding, and capable of going into space twice within a two week period carrying a pilot and the equivalent of 2 passengers. The $10M Ansari X-Prize was won by Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne, flown out of Mojave, California, and this became the model for the developing sub-orbital space tourism industry. Where is SpaceShipOne now? It is in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, alongside other famous spacecraft like Apollo 11.
Some very credible survey and forecasting work has established that there is a huge yearning for space tourism, even at the high initial prices, (see eg the Futron/Zogby study report, and The Adventurers’ Survey, both available from this website). It is estimated that space tourism will be a $ Billion industry. Indications are that up to 15,000 tourists a year will each pay $100,000 for a sub-orbital spaceflight experience. Some work was published in 2011 and was conducted by EADS/IPSOS which indicated an even larger potential market of 43,000 passengers per year for the eventual sub-orbital space tourism demand. In 2012, the consulting firm Tauri Group produced some new demand forecasts in conjunction with Spaceport Florida and supported by the FAA-AST (report available Tauri website), and they represent the best available current knowledge on the subject, at least regarding sub-orbital short-term forecasts.
Clearly, only multi-millionaires can afford the current price of a ticket for orbital space flight. There are currently more than 1,000 billionaires in the world. A potential sub-orbital tourist needs much less assets in order to be able to afford to undertake the trip. For comparison, there are some 30 million millionaires in the world today.
Space tourism is of the very essence of what it is to be American, in that it is designed for "the pursuit of Happiness", and involves taking risks, pushing back boundaries, and making a buck in the process. Apart from the economic and employment benefits, there are two other immense social benefits that will come from the creation of this new industry. First is the profound change that comes to all who see the Earth from space. They report that the space experience, like no other, produces an awareness of the fragility of our condition on the planet Earth, and the need to conserve its resources. Only 500 people went into space in the first half-century of the space age. Space tourism makes it possible from now on for thousands of people to enjoy that experience each year. Secondly, space tourism provides the need for rapid turnaround of space vehicles. New vehicles have been developed that will convert the process of getting into space into more of an airline-like operation. When this has happened, this will mean that the price of getting into space has been reduced by orders of magnitude, the reliability will have improved likewise, and all kinds of future space payloads will benefit thereby. Space tourism may even help pay for future space exploration initiatives beyond the Earth, when governments have budget constraints (see eg references on p 64, p 65 of Buzz Aldrin’s new book Mission to Mars.)
There are cheaper alternatives. While you save up for the full space experience you might consider taking a Zero-g flight in an aircraft flying a parabolic profile. Prices are only a few thousand dollars. Of course, there are also space museums to visit, and they are often free!
“Gateway Earth”, amongst other things, is a proposed new destination for space tourists beyond Low Earth Orbit. It would be located in Geostationary Orbit, which is at 36,000 km (or 22,000 miles) in an equatorial orbit. From this vantage point, space tourists would be able to see almost an entire hemisphere of the Earth at a time. “Gateway Earth” would also have a governmental part, and so the space tourists using the hotel would be able to watch the governmental astronauts doing their work at the outpost. At this location, the occupants would be very near the edge of Earth’s “gravity well” and so ongoing flights to and from interplanetary destinations would use “Gateway Earth” as their start and end-point. Future astronauts returning from a trip to Mars would regard “Gateway Earth” as their home port, and maybe would share their tales of discovery with the space tourist occupants before continuing back down to Earth’s surface. Visit the Gateway Earth site for more information.
No. The NASA Deep Space Gateway is currently intended to be in Lunar Orbit and does not contain a space tourism hotel. Although the “Deep Space Gateway” could be a useful development if funding is available, there would still be a need for Gateway Earth in Earth’s GEO orbit to provide the revenue base for the future interplanetary missions.
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