Vacation in space? Well, you can actually plan for it

NEW DELHI: A trip to either the moon, Mars or even long distance intergalactic travel, stuff of science fiction, may in the near future become as mundane as catching a flight between Delhi and Mumbai or New York and London, prompting the rich and the lucky to mull vacations in space.

As private astronautical companies vie with one other to take adventure-seeking tourists, including Indians, beyond Earth's orbit, a commoner's fantasy of travelling into space like Indian-origin Sunita Williams may soon become a reality.

After Santosh George Kulangara, from Kerala, who is set to become the first space tourist from the country when he will board Virgin Galactic's spaceship in mid 2008, a television entertainment channel has now tied up with American commercial space transportation company Rocketplane, to fly out the winner of its soon-to-be-held reality contest.

"The idea of going to space, of experiencing weightlessness and floating just like astronauts do actually appeals to a lot of people. It is a rewarding experience," says Rocketplane mission commander John B Herrington, who will fly the winners of the contest organised by UTV to promote its new channel.

"When you are in space you think differently, there are no boundaries that restrict so your thoughts take on a different dimension," Sunita Williams who had spent six months orbiting the earth aboard the International Space Station said while on a brief visit to the capital.

Herrington, an ex NASA astronaut and veteran US navy pilot who was in the capital recently as part of the channel's promotional campaign and will fly the selected tourist on a spaceplane of Rocketplane Limited Inc says, "We are still working on the design of the plane, which will be like a business jet, weighing around 20,000 pounds and will carry three more passengers apart from me."

The spacecraft sporting two jet engines will be fitted with another rocket engine that will be able to give it the thrust to take it into space.

"It will take off from Oklahoma spaceport runway and climb to an altitude of 40,000 feet within 15 minutes and then go into a vertical climb after I pull the switch to ignite the rocket engine, says Herrington tracing half a parabola in air with his finger to describe the trajectory of the flight.

"After accelerating the engine, it is cut off at 100 km from earth and the vehicle shoots into space and the passengers can feel the sensation of weightlessness for four minutes before the descent begins," he adds.   "I will again start the jet engine when the plane enters the lower atmosphere, and the touchdown will be like any normal flight," he explains adding that the entire journey will take
around an hour.

"Apart from one Indian, the flight will also carry a couple from Canada who have expressed their desire to marry in space," says Herrington who gives a description of the interior of the craft.

"Passengers will have an intercom system through which they will hear the pilot and speak with each other. There will be seven cameras fitted on board to record all these moments and once the flight is over, DVDs of the flight will be given to the passengers to help them relive the moment," he says.

Price of the ticket also seems no deterrent for true enthusiasts. "You would be surprised but a lot of people can actually afford that kind of flight. Only that they do not get that type of opportunity," says the former NASA astronaut.

Santosh George, producer of a travel programme on a Malayalam TV channel, has paid around 80 lakhs for a seat onthe Richard Branson' Virgin Galetic's Spaceship that will be the first commercial spaceflight scheduled sometime in 2008.

"If it is affordable to me I will definitely do that. I am basically a traveller and travelling to any part of the country or abroad I will do it," says George who has just returned from a training programme in Florida, where he experienced zero gravity.

Quizzed on his experience, he says, "I experienced weightlessness on the zero gravity corporation plane. It was great. We do not know how much wight we are carrying in our bodies. We were in space for 40 minutes and the craft was brought down very fast."

"I love travelling and on this flight I will be taking along my camera and record the flight and my experiences,which will be telecast later for people to see and enjoy," he said on phone from his Kottayam home.

He says the Spaceship Two on which he will be travelling most probably by the end of next year will be ready by the beginning of January 2008 and more than five to six trips are planned for the craft that will be designed for "six passengers and two pilots."

There are five serious contenders including Europeans, Russians, the Japanese who are looking to exploit the opportunities that will be thrown up by the nascent space tourism industry, says Herrington.