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Simone Baines |
The race is
on to take the
first tourists
in space |
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Hand in hand with the one you love
you
gaze at the horizon to watch the earth rise. Then you decide
to do some
zero-gravity aerobics, while your partner
goes off for
a space walk. |
It sounds like science fiction, but
companies around the world are working
hard to make this
sort of
holiday a reality. The idea of space tourism has been around for
nearly forty years now. At first NASA made plans for
the ultimate
in holiday destinations, but then private companies
became involved
in the mid-1980s. The Challenger shuttle disaster of 1986
postponed their plans, but now space
is back as a future holiday
resort. |
The Hilton hotel group has produced
ambitious and serious plans for hotels on the moon, as well as
orbiting hotels. The plans include beaches, observation decks, and
hundreds of
honeymoon suites. The Hilton group thinks that many of
their space tourists will be ‘just married’ couples
looking for a
totally different holiday experience. But zero-gravity will be a
little uncomfortable. ‘There will be space motion
sickness in the
first few days, with
headaches and nausea,’ says Japan’s National
Space Development Agency. And if you get to the toilet
in time,
‘Liquids simply float
in droplets,’ says George Turner, a
hopeful
space tour operator. |
Hotels will try
to prevent these problems by providing areas with the sensation of
gravity. This means going to parts of the hotel that will be
spinning. Centrifugal force
will push you against the wall, and
give the feeling of some weight.
Since it will be possible
to lie down, many people will probably prefer to sleep in these areas.
The alternative will be
to strap themselves into a sleeping bag
attached to
a wall with velcro. |
Sunbathing will be
possible, but will require some very strong sunscreen – protection
factor 1000
will do it. ‘The sun can be hundreds of times as
strong in space as on the ground,’ explains Turner. |
However
the plans all depend on on one thing –
cheap space travel. At the moment the
only re-usable rocket is
NASA's space shuttle. Even that
has to have all its engines removed and repaired after every flight. The
cost of each
shuttle launch is US$1 billion. A
space craft that
only costs US$2 million per launch is what the travel industry is
looking for.
So far that remains a
far-off dream, but it may come
a lot closer
if someone wins ‘The X-Prize’. |
Launched in 1997,
the X-Prize offers US$10 million to anyone who can build a
re-usable space craft. All you have to do is launch three people
100 km into space – twice
within three weeks. So far 16 companies
are
racing to win the prize money. But the real prize will be
the income from space tourism, estimated to be US$12 billion per year.
‘Space tourism will come, I’m sure of it,’ says Turner. ‘Just
think
what you'll be able to tell your friends – that you had a
holiday that was really out of this world!’ |
Source:
New English Digest |
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