Space Tourism: High-tech hot air balloon floats to 120,000 feet

Forget rockets or airplanes, World View Enterprises wants to take tourists to the edge of space and back via balloon, and they just may do so sooner rather than later.

The company tested an early unmanned prototype last week, successfully floating a high-tech hot air balloon to 120,000 feet.

Remote controllers then lowered the balloon back to 50,000 feet and released the main console from the balloon.

The detachable capsule, which will eventually house excited passengers, fell back to Earth and was guided to a safe, soft landing by its parafoil system.

The test flight launched out of Roswell International Air Center in Roswell, New Mexico, on June 18. The capsule landed roughly five hours later.

The "Tycho" prototype tested early last week is much smaller than what the final console and balloon will look like, but engineers are still happy with the success of the early launch and landing.

"The test validated the full flight profile of the spaceflight system," the company wrote in a press release.

"Our main objective was to have a small enough scale to minimize the expense, but large enough to scale well to the final system," said Taber MacCallum, chief technology officer at World View Enterprises.

"The ballooning experts we consulted assured us that about 10% scale would hold."

"That's the benefit of ballooning," added MacCallum. "We can do a lot of scaled unmanned flights."

World View plans to offer commercial flights to the stratosphere by 2016, with ticket prices projected at roughly $75,000 per seat. The first three planned flights are already booked full.

"I feel like we're on track," said MacCallum, though he admitted there's much work left to do.

Wealthy Chinese buy space tourism flight tickets

More than 300 Chinese space enthusiasts have booked tickets costing nearly $100,000 for a five minute trip to outer space, official media in oppressive China reported.

The 305 buyers snapped up tickets for a trip with Dutch firm Space Expedition Corp (SXC) when they went on sale on Taobao, an online retail website, the state-run China Daily reported.

The trips will take place in a two-man craft that remains in space for five to six minutes, giving the tourist a rarely seen view and the experience of weightlessness, the report said.

The tickets were sold for 599,999 yuan ($96,000) it said, adding that four entrepreneurs from the southwestern city of Chengdu and two from the commercial hub of Shanghai were among those who signed up.

The Taobao page selling the tickets was only available on June 12th, a spokesman for the website told reporters. A screenshot seen by reporters confirmed that transactions had been made.

No date for the trip was given. Despite a flurry of interest in space tourism in recent years, no private firms have yet been able to launch regular trips.

Participants, who must weigh no more than 125 kilograms (275 pounds), are required to receive flight simulation and weightlessness training before their trip.

China has its own aggressive, dominating and military-run space programme, which in the last decades has sent astronauts into orbit and landed a rover on the moon.

To date oppressive China is not interested in the peaceful exploitation of Space or Space Tourism by commercial aerospace firms.

Swiss Space Systems (S3) launch the ZeroG experience

Zero gravity flights operated by S3 ZeroG open for passengers of 8 years and older.

In 2015, Swiss Space Systems (S3) will put the ZeroG experience within everyone's reach. S3 is launching affordable zero gravity flights from more than 15 locations across the world including, for the first time ever, Asia, the Middle East and Central America.

ZeroG flights make it possible to experience true weightlessness, allowing bodies and materials to float free of the earth's gravitational pull.

The S3 parabolic flights are completely safe, and supervised by space professionals and a crew of qualified personnel.

All flights last less than 2 hours, during which 15 parabolas are performed, each providing an experience of weightlessness for 20 to 25 seconds.

S3 provides a customised ZeroG feeling for all


"These ZeroG flights are a first step towards Space for All, giving everyone the chance to enjoy the weightlessness experienced by astronauts in space", explains Pascal Jaussi, CEO of S3.

Zero gravity flights operated by S3 ZeroG open for passengers of 8 years and older. Three categories of ticket are on offer:

In this zone, which caters for up to 40 passengers, ZeroG is available for under 2'000 Euros per head. This is the world's most affordable ZeroG experience.

This luxurious section offers more room for each of a maximum of 28 passengers.

Premium Zone tickets cost 5'000 Euros and include special activities such as playing with liquids and balloons.

Passengers will receive an exclusive Breitling S3 ZeroG personalized watch, which will serve as the passenger's boarding pass.

This very exclusive part of the plane welcomes up to 12 passengers at a minimum cost of 50'000 Euros for the whole zone, with a range of options available for a tailor-made experience.



This is the promotional S3 ZeroG video from the Swiss Space Systems (S3) website.

Human Spaceflight, Space Tourism and Habitation: Hotels in Space

Utilising existing technology and sustainably housing humans in space is a seemingly futuristic concept that already has its wheels in motion today.

Canadian Space company Tasha9503 is designing hotels to put into low Earth orbit (LEO) using used rocketry and the available technology of today.

Orbital colonisation is the next step for humanity.

Exploration is in our nature and settling amongst the stars inside orbital habitats is a method through which this can be achieved.

Constant human presence in space has already been established through the International Space Station (ISS), which has housed humans continually ever since its first crew in 2000.

This powerhouse of scientific research is the product of international cooperation between 15 nations and is a powerful testament to our potential in space.

By unlocking this potential capability to work together both on and off of our home planet has been demonstrated and in turn gives rise to a plethora of new orbital habitat concepts that may one day become a reality.

To live in space sustainably, cost needs to be low and reusability must be a key component. This will allow maximum utility to be gained from the grand endeavour.

One such concept that focuses on reusing existing components is HotelsInSpace by Tasha9503, which aims to put great numbers of people in space at a low cost.

The company will build spaceships from specially designed used rockets, which are capable of lifting 6 satellite payloads and up to 200 paying customers.

This ambitious plan arose after the founder Trevor Cooper heard somebody mention that they would like a spaceship in which their children could mine smelt forge at the Asteroid Belt, manufacture living accommodations on site, whilst continuing to study the cosmos. And so, HotelsInSpace was born.

Read more of this article here

Russian Companies Design Space Tourism Shuttle

Buran space shuttle. Photo courtesy RIA Novosti - Alexander Mokletsov.

Russia's NPO Molniya design bureau and the Myasischev Experimental Factory (EMZ) are designing a space-plane for sub-orbital "space tourism" and small satellite launch flights, according to a company specialists' report seen by RIA Novosti.

The sub-orbital craft will be launched from a subsonic carrier aircraft such as the existing high-altitude Myasischev M-55 Geofizika or 3M-T transport aircraft.

The 3-MT, a derivative of the Myasischev M-4 bomber which first flew in the 1950's, was used in the Buran space shuttle program in the 1980's to carry the orbiter as well as the Energiya carrier rocket.

The winged space-plane will take off from the launch aircraft and climb at 1,000-1,200 meters a second to 105-120 km altitude - at the edge of space - under power of a solid-fuel rocket motor.

"Space tourists will experience weightlessness for three to five minutes and can see the surface of the earth through portholes. After entry into the dense layers of the atmosphere, the spaceplane will make a landing on an aerodrome," the document says.

The number of passengers carried will be from four to 14, dependent on the type of carrier aircraft, the document says.

The companies are also designing a variant of the air-launch system for placing small satellites in low-earch orbit, with a satellite and booster carried in the spaceplane's passenger compartment.

No information was available as to whether either project has funding to place it in production.