As someone that can easily spend hours
simply staring into space, it has always been my dream to be able to
one day take a trip away from Earth. Unfortunately for me, I don't
have the $20+ million that is usually required to make the journey of
a lifetime. But for those people lucky enough, there is a company
designed specifically for them!
Space Adventures, a company based out
of Vienna, Virginia allows people with wads of cash an opportunity
that very few people get to experience. Assuming that you have the
financial assets and meet the physical requirements to safely get to
space and back, Space Adventures will arrange for you to fly to space
on a Russian spacecraft. A several day tour of the ISS would be
something that most would love to experience.
After Daisuke Enomoto, “Dice-K,”
was found to be unfit to fly for medical reasons, Anousheh Ansari
will get to take his place. Ansari, a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin,
is set to become the world's first female space tourist. Her trip
will be carried out on board a Russian spacecraft on September 14,
according to Space Adventures. She began her cosmonaut training for
the mission later this year, and will be ready for the September 14
launch.
The Soyuz TMA-9 crew will blast off
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in one week. Accompanying
Ansari will be NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria and Russian
cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin.
Dice-K may have been deemed ineligible
for this trip, but a future mission for him is likely. What exactly
is stopping Dice-K from flying on the mission has not been publicly
disclosed.
Although I know I will never be
able to take the trip to space, that doesn't mean I will stop
admiring the beauty of the stars. I wish all future space tourists a
safe and amazing journey into space.
