Space Tourist

Namira Salim is scheduled to be the first person from Pakistan to go into space. Her plan is to go aboard Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space plane.

Salim, in her life, has already climbed Mount Everest, traveled to North and South Poles plus set up her country’s first consulate in Monaco. But says Branson the flight has been delayed.

According to Fox News, “Asked about Virgin Galactic, Branson said he has ‘stopped counting’ days to the launch because it gets delayed “to the next year, to the next year.”

So, on the heels of Felix Baumgartner’s record setting jump from space and probably around the time that singer Sarah Brightman is to travel to the International Space Station, Namira Salim MAY be afforded the opportunity to travel into low earth orbit.

We know that safety is the number one mantra for air travel or space travel so it’s important that Branson gets this right. But, this patience will be a virtue when the big event finally does happen.

Phantom of the Opera singer and celebrity Sarah Brightman has outbid NASA at $51 million for a trip to space aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The trip is to take place in 2014 or 2015.

Other wealthy space tourists before her have joined Space Adventures and paid between $20 million and $35 million for a trip aboard the ISS. But now that the Space Shuttle program has shut down there are more astronauts than ever who wish to go to space if they have the budget behind them.

Apparently with a bad economy still brewing, Brightman has trumped NASA in this endeavor.

According to ABC News, “To maintain its presence in orbit when Soyuz seats are limited, NASA had to agree to commit at least one of its astronauts to spend a year in space, instead of the six months they currently stay. Brightman’s trip will be announced in Moscow on Oct. 10.

“NASA says a year in space has great medical research benefits. Astronauts spending just six months on the space station in the past have suffered from radiation exposure, muscle mass loss, decreased bone density, and vision problems. The research from a year on the space station will help NASA plan for long flights to Mars or an asteroid. It does mean an astronaut will get booted from a flight to adjust for one less seat.”

Brightman will ride in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and undergo extensive cosmonaut training before the space trip. If we’re lucky we’ll get to hear this diva broadcast the first aria in space.

But, not everyone has $51 million for a jaunt to space. Besides a pie-in-the-sky dream trip that is unaffordable, most people will say that their first choice in travel involves booking through a place such as FirstChoice for a memorable earthbound vacation. While it’s nice to dream it’s also nice to be grounded here on Earth for a relaxing getaway when we need it.

Now, I’ve already talked once about sex in space requests pouring into various space tourism companies, but now it is time to expand on the subject a bit. Now, the question is should a spaceplane, rocket ship for space tourists or even the International Space Station have a compartment for copulating couples? Even prisoners get conjugal visits, so why not give those people paying 100,000’s or even 1,000,000’s of dollars the same benefit?

On airplane, people for years have bragged about being in the Mile High Club. With the advent of space tourism, how about the 60 Mile High Club? Yes, people will want to float in space and experience weightlessness. That is a given. But even Homer Simpson knows that the basics of life boil down to eat, sleep, mate, repeat. And, if would behoove the budding space tourism companies to take this into consideration.

What is wrong with expecting a romantic interlude among the stars when in outer space? What could be more romantic than looking outside the rocket ships window and see the Moon 5 times its normal size? Even Jim Carey in the movie “Bruce Almighty” got this right.

So, the only question left to answer is, should the “romance room” be on the Virgin Galactic, the KISS (Kinky International Space Station) or the “Pocket” Rocketplane XP? You make the call.

Space Tourist Richard Garriott has returned safely from space and the International Space Station (ISS) after a 10 day visit. Gariott is the 6th official space tourist of record.

Richard Gariott is the first 2nd generation astronaut as he is the son of NASA astronaut Owen Gariott. On October 12, 2008 Richard Gariott launched aboard a Soyuz TMA-12 from Kazakhstan and returned on October 13, 2008 along with cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko who had spent six months aboard the ISS.

Gariott is a Silicon Valley multimillionaire who made his money designing fantasy-style computer games. One criticism that Gariott had of the program is that he says NASA needs to be more open to the space tourism industry and encourage visitors in space.

According to Richard Gariott, “This mission to the ISS fulfilled a lifelong dream to experience spaceflight as my father first did 35 years ago. It’s an honor to be the first American to follow a parent into space. This experience made possible by Space Adventures – from my training in Star City, to lift-off, orbit and finally docking with and staying on the ISS – has been more gratifying than anything I could have ever imagined.”

While in space, Gariott did participate in NASA sponsored teleconferencing with HAM radio links, talking to students about his experience and experiments while onboard the ISS.

Sir Richard Branson, the head of the Virgin Galactic space tourism company has now received many requests from curious couples who want to be the first in history to have sex in space. Virgin expects to put the first tourists into space as early as 2009.

Some couples are wanting to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the first couple to have sex in space. Others, apparently, just want to take the “Mile High Club” one step further.

But, according to UPI.com, the couple’s expectations may be too high. The space tourism flight will only offer five minutes of zero gravity. Accompany this with spacesuits to unravel and a general flailing around in the cabin and attempts at intercourse could be an exercise in unmet expectations.

It is conceivable to have sex in space, however. And, should the couple actually conceive a baby while in suborbital space this would be another one for the record books. I can see the headlines now, “Virgin Delivers Space Baby”. It could happen.

Hey, all you space buffs, and in particular all of you who would like to be a tourist in space, now is your chance. Space Adventures is now seeking a backup space tourist to take the place of the next designated cosmonaut Richard Garriott, in case something happens and he can’t make the trip.

The understudy will go into training and experience the process that crew members have to go through in order to get ready for spaceflights. The backup space tourist will even assist with Gariott’s mission when he flies to the International Space Station in October 2008.

The understudy will be given the distinction of being a fully-trained cosmonaut and will be named as an official part of the crew. For those who have $3 million to spend for cosmonaut training and a trip to Star City, Russia this may be the event of a lifetime.

And, if you think as a backup to the main space tourist, you don’t have a shot at going into space yourself, you would be wrong. It has already happened. The first female in space, Anousheh Ansari was a backup to Daisuke Enomoto who had to bow out for medical reasons.