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With space tourism getting ready to get into gear by 2010, tickets have been selling for $200,000 each,  through agencies such as Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two, as compared to the previous $20 million dollar rides offered by Space Adventures to view the International Space Station.  With both spacecraft a new generation of privately funded methods of traveling, they both have space experience as a major part of its space resume. SpaceShip Two was the first private spacecraft to enter suborbital space in June 2004, while Space Adventures is the only current commercial space tourism to have seen five tourists to the International Space Station (ISS) for $20 million each—Dennis Tito in May of 2001; Mark Shuttleworth in April of 2002; Greg Olsen in October of 2005; Anousheh Ansari in September of 2006; and Charles Simonyi in April of 2007.

PRICE CHECK, BOB?

Remaining firm on their prices right up to the recession, their price had risen to $30 to $40 million dollars for each space trip. Then the recession hit… Today, prices are crashing everywhere—housing, travel, hotels, flights---and yes, even the mighty space travel. With commercial space travels are not planning on leaving Earth until 2010, the $200,000 space flights have dropped to $95,000. A discount of approximately 50%, this new price by RocketShip Tours combined with XCOR Aerospace consists of a five-night stay at a luxury space resort—emphasizing confidence, quality, and space luxury for individuals willing to pay for it.

According to Jules Klar, head honcho at RocketShip, “Our goal is to make space travel accessible and affordable to those who aspire to experience the ultimate adventure. By reducing the cost of it by more than 50 percent, we think we have taken a major step toward accomplishing this goal.” 

A serious competitor, Richard Branson at Virgin Galactic still has prices set at $200,000, but the major difference between RocketShip and Virgin Galactic is the type of tours involved—Virgin Galactic offers group tours while RocketShop offers solo tours with the paying customer sitting next to the captain "of the ship."

VIRGIN GALACTIC

The SpaceShip Two by Virgin Galactic will be carried 60,000 feet into space while being launched by the White Knight Two aircraft that is currently under construction. Given the name "Eve", it is three times larger than its predecessor the "White Knight One" which launched SpaceShipOne. Carrying eight people, six passengers and two pilots, it will be twice the size of the SpaceShipOne and the White Knight mothership, originating from Santa Monica CA—the  Ansari X Prize for a $10,000,000 purse-- to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks. Presently, seven space vehicles are ordered by the Virgin Galactic but only two are named—the VSS Enterprise and the VSS Voyager.

With the customer to have an experience worth the money, the interior will have lots of windows and reclining form fitting seats. Allowed to experience a couple of minutes of weightlessness, the customers will be allowed out of their seats with possible tethers to retract them back to their seats. Spacesuits are expected to be designed with cameras along with the in-cabin cameras, with possible plans to received a DVD video of their experience to take back home. 

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