At over $30 million a ticket it is not cheap, but rich adventurers will still pay for a dream trip into orbit despite a global financial crisis, US space tourist Richard Garriott said Monday.Three days after returning to Earth from a trip to the International Space Station, Garriott told a news briefing at Russia’s Star […]
A Virginia space company says a software billionaire plans to become the first private traveller to make a second trip to spaceSixty-year-old Charles Simonyi flew to the International Space Station with a Russian crew in April 2007. The 13-day trip cost him US$25 million (A$31.6 million).Vienna, Virginia-based Space Adventures says Simonyi now plans to go […]
A Russian Boeing 737 landed with its landing gear up today, suffering substantial damage but leaving passengers and crew unharmed.The aircraft operated by the Russian airline KD Avia made the landing at the main airport of the Baltic port city Kaliningrad after a uneventful flight from Barcelona, Spain.The plane’s flight crew determined the landing gear […]
A Japanese businessman who trained for a 10-day flight aboard the International Space Station has sued to get his money back, claiming he was defrauded of $21 million (A$25.3 million) by the US firm that arranged the venture.Daisuke Enomoto, 37, had completed training in Russia and planned to fly to the station aboard a Russian […]
Private companies will play an increasingly important role in space travel in the next decade, said NASA administrator Michael Griffin as the agency marks its 50th anniversary.The “technology of our time now permits companies to build with their own capabilities” systems for travelling into space, Griffin said.“Exploring and getting a presence on the frontier will […]