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In
April of 2001, Dennis Tito of the United States
became the first space tourist.
Interestingly, he was the guest of the
Russian Space program, even at the strong protests
of NASA.
None-the-less, as a wildly successful
60-year old entrepreneur, Tito was able to afford
his week-long stint in space and demonstrate to
the world that space tourism had arrived.
But what about the rest of us who can’t
afford $20 million ticket.
Is it a reasonable dream that we too might
get to escape Earth’s atmosphere as tourists?
Presently there are craft under development
for this very purpose, space planes that are built
to carry scores of tourists beyond the
stratosphere into space for an orbital experience
at affordable prices.
Sure, a seat on the plane might cost
$100,000 to start.
But consider that a computer that costs
$500 today would have cost more than $1 million
dollars twenty years ago.
Or that an $800 digital camera today would
have cost $80,000 just five years ago!
Certainly the cost of a trip into space
will also shrink to more affordable prices in the
not-too-distant future.
What
is it about space
travel that you would like to experience? |
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