To Infinity And Beyond

The Sunday Age

Sunday May 28, 2006

TERRY SMYTH

In April 1961, in Kazakhstan, two farm workers looked up to see a man in an orange suit parachuting to Earth. When he landed, they asked: "Have you come from outer space?"

"I certainly have," said Yuri Gagarin. In a cramped capsule, for one hour and 48 minutes, Gagarin had boldly gone where no one had gone before, completing an orbit of the planet.

Since that first space flight, 443 people have emulated Gagarin's experience. To leave this world, you had to be a Russian cosmonaut, a NASA astronaut or, most recently, a billionaire. But that's soon to change.

Space is becoming the final frontier of tourism, with several companies designing commercial passenger craft, each convinced suborbital tourism has the makings of a nice little earner.

Canadian company PlanetSpace is developing craft based on the World War II German V2 rocket. British firm Reaction Engines has high hopes for a craft designed to burn air like a jet plane at low altitudes, then burn oxygen at high altitudes. This will enable it to take off from the runway rather than piggyback on a rocket or aircraft, like the shuttle.

Projects with similar aims but varying designs are underway in the US by XCOR, SpaceX, Armadillo Aerospace, Blue Origin and Space Adventures.

First off the mark, Space Adventures has launched the first two - and so far the only - space tourists. Tycoons Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth each paid $26.5 million to hitch a ride on a Russian Soyuz capsule to the International Space Station.

In the new space race, travellers won't need such deep pockets. Space Adventures is taking bookings for a $138,000 space flight, while Virgin Galactic, backed by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, has signed up 175 passengers at $280,000 a ticket.

Virgin Galactic flights, to be launched late in 2008, will last two hours, including seven minutes of weightlessness. The passenger list on V. S. S. Enterprise's maiden flight will include Branson, his father Ted, and three Australians: Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey and science writers Alan Finkel and Wilson da Silva.

So let's say you've managed to cough up the readies for a Virgin space flight - what might you expect? According to Virgin Galactic and a little imagination, something like this: You arrive by shuttle jet at the space port resort in New Mexico, which will serve as accommodation during the six days before launch. Each morning, a helicopter takes you to a training centre for medical tests, G-force tolerance training and flight simulation. Closer to the day of your flight, solid foods will be off the menu to lessen the risk of space sickness.

On launch day, you arrive at the space station wearing a jumpsuit.You don't have to queue because your spacecraft carries seven passengers and two pilots.

Out on the runway, there she is - the V. S. S. Enterprise - attached to the belly of White Knight, the jet aircraft that will carry the Enterprise aloft before setting it free to roar into orbit.

The Enterprise is a scaled-up version of SpaceShipOne, designed by American aircraft builder Burt Rutan, winner of the $18 million Ansari X Prize, awarded by billionaire Peter Diamandis to the designer of the first privately built spacecraft to make suborbital flights.

Take-off and it's goodbye New Mexico. Climbing now, to almost 17,000 metres. You brace for the acceleration to 4Gs as the spacecraft is released. There's a roar and a lurch as the rockets kick in and, free of the mother ship, you blast into space at three times the speed of sound. In less than 90 seconds, daylight is gone and it's black. Space.

The rocket engine cuts out and all is silent. Weightless, you float about.

Space travellers from Gagarin onwards have said the view of Earth from space is beyond exhilarating, and now you know what they mean.

Too soon, the ship begins its return to Earth. Unlike astronauts in the shuttle, you won't be slamming into the atmosphere. The glider-like wings of the Enterprise turn upwards, allowing it to flutter back to Earth like a shuttlecock.

Then, at 15,000 metres, the wings turn downwards again and, as a cheer goes up - a mix of triumph and relief - the ship glides to a landing at the space port.

Hello Earth, we're back!

QUESTIONS YOU'RE DYING TO ASK

Q How much does it cost?

A The average cost is $200,000. That's return, of course.

Q Are discount fares available?

A No, though by 2014 market forces might reduce the price to about $100,000.

Q Can I use frequent flyers?

A Virgin is the only airline offering space travel for frequent flyer points (you'll need about 2 million points).

Q Could space flight could cause breast implants to explode?

A The MythBusters program tested the claim and declared it busted, but the only way to know for sure is to give Pamela Anderson a free ticket.

Q Can I get a drink on board?

A No, and don't bother complaining. In space, no one can hear you scream.

© 2006 The Sunday Age

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