Space Adventures

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Space Adventures, Ltd.

Type	Private
Founded	1998
Headquarters	Vienna, Virginia, USA
Industry	Commercial Spaceflight
Products	space tourism
Website	www.spaceadventures.com

Space Adventures, Ltd. is a space tourism company that provides human space missions to the world marketplace. It is the only company that is sending private space explorers.^[1]

Contents 1 Background 2 World's First Space Explorers 2.1 Dennis Tito 2.2 Mark Shuttleworth 2.3 Later explorers 3 Lunar Mission 4 Orbital Mission Explorers Circle 5 Explorer suborbital vehicle 6 Spaceports 7 Spacewalk 8 Lawsuit 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Background

Eric C. Anderson is the president and CEO of Space Adventures. He co-founded Space Adventures in 1998 with several other entrepreneurs from the aerospace, adventure travel and entertainment industries and has managed the company over the past several years, selling more than $170M in space tourist flights.

The company's advisory board includes Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, shuttle astronauts Sam Durrance, Thomas David Jones, Byron Lichtenberg, Norm Thagard, Kathy Thornton, Pierre Thuot, Charles Walker, Skylab/Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachev.

^[2]

Space Adventures offers a variety of programs such as the availability today for spaceflight missions to the International Space Station and around the moon, Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training, spaceflight qualification programs and reservations on future suborbital spacecrafts. In May 2001, it sent American businessman Dennis Tito to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for a reported $20 million payment, making him the first space tourist in history.^[2] South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth did the same in April 2002,^[2] becoming the 'First African in Space'. Gregory Olsen became the third private citizen to travel to the ISS in October 2005,^[2] followed by the first female space tourist, Anousheh Ansari, who completed her 10-day orbital mission in September 2006.^[3] Charles Simonyi, an ex-executive at Microsoft who managed the Office product group became the world's fifth space tourist in April 2007.^[2] In 2008, Richard Garriott, the 1st second-generation U.S. astronaut and pre-eminent game developer, became Space Adventures sixth orbital space client to travel to the ISS.

In 2009, Charles Simonyi became Space Adventures first repeat client to launch to the ISS. Additionally, Space Adventures will launch its first private mission in 2011.

Space Adventures acquired Zero Gravity Corporation [1] in March 2008.

[edit] World's First Space Explorers

[edit] Dennis Tito

Space Adventures’ first orbital spaceflight client and the world’s first private space explorer launched to the ISS in 2001. American businessman Dennis Tito received comprehensive training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. His participation in Space Adventures’ other programs, including a Zero-Gravity flight, centrifuge training and the supersonic jet flight to the Edge of Space, is what ultimately inspired him to take the final step. “When I reached 2.5 times the speed of sound and saw the curvature of the Earth below and the dark sky above, I knew I wanted to keep on going,” said Tito after completing his flight in a MiG-25, the world’s fastest and highest flying operational aircraft.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Mark Shuttleworth

‘First African in Space’ Mark Shuttleworth and his two crewmates, Russian commander Yuri Gidzenko and Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori spent 10 days in space. They took off on a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on April 25, 2002. Prior to his flight, Mr. Shuttleworth completed Space Adventures’ Orbital Pre-Qualification Program and underwent almost eight months of training and medical exams, including a one-week orientation program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. A Zero-Gravity flight, centrifuge training, and spacecraft communication, guidance and control system lessons of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and ISS were also required. “Space Adventures has been invaluable in supporting me on this long journey towards the realization of my dream of spaceflight. This flight is a personal challenge and adventure, and it’s an opportunity to encourage students in South Africa to embrace mathematics, science and technology,” said Mr. Shuttleworth.

[edit] Later explorers

• Greg Olsen
• Anousheh Ansari
• Charles Simonyi
• Richard Garriott

[edit] Lunar Mission

This new mission offers the chance to travel and orbit the moon for a cost of $100 million.^[4]

[edit] Orbital Mission Explorers Circle

This program allows individuals to reserve seats on future orbital spaceflights. They have the option to fly to orbit as their schedule allows with preferential access to mission seats or they can opt to sell their seat to another private astronaut. Sergey Brin, co-founder and president of technology for Google Inc., has become the founding member of the 'Founding Explorer' group by placing a $5 million deposit on a future orbital spaceflight.

Space Adventures has established the Orbital Mission Explorers Circle to build a definitive consortium of future private space explorers who share a lifetime goal of orbital spaceflight or the investment therein. Space Adventures has initially created six ‘Founding Explorer’ positions in the Orbital Mission Explorers Circle, each of whom will have priority access to participate in future orbital space missions.

[edit] Explorer suborbital vehicle

The company, along with Prodea and FSA, is currently developing a suborbital space transportation system, called Explorer. The vehicle has been designed by Myasishchev Design Bureau, a Russian aerospace organization which has developed a wide-array of aircraft and space systems.

The Explorer aerospace system will consist of a flight-operational carrier aircraft, the M-55X, and a rocket spacecraft. It will have the capacity to transport up to five people to space.^[5]

[edit] Spaceports

Space Adventures is involved in the development of two commercial spaceports, one in the United Arab Emirates and the other in Singapore. The UAE spaceport is to be located in Ras al-Khaimah, located less than an hour drive from Dubai. ^[6] In addition to suborbital spaceflights, Spaceport Singapore will operate astronaut training facilities and a public education and interactive visitor center. Spaceport Singapore visitors will be able to experience Zero-Gravity flights, G-force training in a centrifuge, and simulated space walks in a neutral buoyancy tank.^[7] However, the company has found it difficult to attract funding and partners for the Singapore project.^[8]

[edit] Spacewalk

On July 21, 2006 the company announced that it would begin offering a spacewalk option to its clients traveling to the ISS. The addition of the spacewalk, which would allow participants to spend up to 1.5 hours outside of the space station, would cost about $15 million and would lengthen the orbital mission approximately six to eight days. The spacewalk would be completed in the Russian designed Orlan space suit. The training for the spacewalk would require an extra month of training on top of the six months already required.^[9]

[edit] Lawsuit

Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto is suing Space Adventures as his trip was canceled by them for medical reasons after he paid $21,000,000 and no refund was given. ^[10]

[edit] See also

• Space tourism
• Space colonization
• Private spaceflight
• Commercial Astronaut
• Space Tourism Society
• List of private spaceflight companies
• Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Space Adventures
• Space Daily article on 2004/2005 space tourist contract
• Spaceport Singapore
• Space tourism: ready for the masses? 20 June 2006

v • d • e Space tourism (see list of space tourism companies) Major private companies Bigelow Aerospace · EADS Astrium · Mojave Aerospace Ventures · Rocketplane Kistler · Space Adventures · SpaceX · Scaled Composites · Virgin Galactic Organizations ARCASPACE · Astronaute Club Européen · LiftPort Group · Commercial Spaceflight Federation · Space Tourism Society · Association of Autonomous Astronauts Successful spacecraft SpaceShipOne · Genesis I · Genesis II Living in space Space station · Space habitat · Space colonization · Commercialization of space · Suborbital spaceplane · Space currency Major Space competitions Ansari X Prize · Google Lunar X Prize · America's Space Prize · N-Prize · Centennial Challenges (Elevator:2010 & MoonROx)