Email
Print
ShareAhmedabad: A weekend in space, for the adventurous and those willing to spend such amounts of money, is no longer a far-fetched thought. Considering the rapid growth in commercial travel and space tourism, this will be a distinct possibility within a decade.
The Russian space station Mir, set up in 2001, was supposed to be the first destination for space tourists. Mir generated tremendous excitement when a reality game show on NBC called Destination Mir, much like our extreme shows by our local Rambo,
Akshay Kumar, based on a freefall from the skies would choose the winner to visit space. Participants on the show were to go through training at Russia's cosmonaut training centre, Star City. Each week, one of the participants would be eliminated from the show, with the winner receiving a trip to Mir.
However, Russia brought the space station down to the Pacific Ocean, ruling out NBC's space plans. As it turned out, bringing down Mir only temporarily delayed the launch of the first space tourist. With an announcement that NASA was beginning space tourism when the International Space Station would be completed, several private companies targeted space as their next tourist destination.
Space Adventures, a company registered in the US, plans to fly tens of thousands of people to space over the next 10 to 15 years, both orbital and suborbital, around the moon and back, from spaceports both on the Earth and in space, to and from private space stations, and aboard dozens of different space vehicles.
Virgin Galactic is the world's first space airline. Offering test landing in space for thousands of dollars for a few moments of a space experience, this company is the first-ever to have non-professional astronauts venture into space. The very flamboyant Richard Branson, the owner of Virgin Airlines, wants to mark a new era in the history of mankind, by one day making affordable exploration of space by human beings a real possibility.
Hilton Hotels, a world-renowned chain of hotels, is now considering building a space hotel. The project Lunar Hilton is planned to be free in space, located below the moon's surface and to include around 100 guestrooms. While the entrance will be from the surface of the moon, most of the hotel will be situated 20 to 30 ft beneath the surface.
The Lunar Hilton, planned on three levels, will have constant temperature control, with the ground level accommodating the mechanical equipment, the middle level consisting of hotel rooms and the top level designed for public activity such as dancing and dining. Food will not be vitamins and nutrients, but regular cuisines available on the Earth. The cooking will be nuclear-reactor kitchens, conducted mostly by machines, while large storerooms will horde months of food supplies in freeze-dried conditions. The leisure lounges will provide ample views of constellations and the stars, while thermo-plane windows will provide views of the Earth below.
While space offers exciting opportunities, private space entrepreneurs are risking fortunes by embracing physical danger as they go our to commercially tap space as a tourist destination. Technology is still emerging; it needs to stabilise and be tested for the 100% safety and security of space tourists; infrastructure such as gravitational corridors and space lands for inter-space travellers need to be developed.
