Space Tourism: Out of this World

The requirements: good health, ludicrous loads of money and shots of bravery.

Photo from NASA

The adventure that history may think as fictional or delusional is now taking off with us. Space tourism is welcoming wealthy adventurers to go somewhere where not many has been and seen. Like what Virgin Galactic said, “space is a virgin territory”.

After a brief tease of the thrilling tour, people jumped aboard.  From 520 listed customers, £64M ($103M) is already in deposits. The first batch of flight will happen next year.  Among the early birds to space were known personalities – Hollywood’s Paris Hilton, Ashton Kutcher, Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt; scientists James Lovelock and Stephen Hawking; and royal Princess Beatrice. See Virgin Galactic passenger list.

A spaceplane can accommodate eight people. Two are pilots and six are passengers. Perhaps, among the six passengers was a photographer to keep track of the adventure. Virgin Galactic is excited to bring in the first batch of space tourists photos. With this mission of resolute publicity and marketing, it won’t be for long until they earned back their £162M ($261M) investment for the fleet of spaceplanes. In fact, the space industry has the potential to reach $1.6B in the next decade.

This growing industry also has growing competition. Orbital Technologies, a Russian company, plans to construct a “Hotel in the Heavens”.  No gravity is the gimmick of the hotel. The price to get there was £500,000 ($806,000) and £100,000 ($161,000) to stay for five nights. Space Adventures in Virginia will bring you to the International Space Station for $50M. Other companies offering the adventure are emerging in California and Texas while a European conference was held in London in the talks of space tourism.

How will it go? Everything will seem like a flash. 90 seconds to ascend with a speed of 4,000km/h. After six to seven minutes of gliding to the space engineless and gravityless, they’ll start descending. Tourists will appreciate a view similar to this:

We don’t know where it’s going from here. I guess there will be more men – ridiculously wealthy men – to step on the moon in the near future.

Would you travel in space?

Sources:
Space tourism: to infinity and beyond?; The Guardian
Space Tourism Is Here! Wealthy Adventurers Wanted; The New York Times

The Uncanny – Storm Chasing and Paranormal Tourism

The new trends in tourism are exciting, but life threatening.

Photos from National Geographic; horror-movies.ca

Perhaps decades ago, tourism is limited to hanging out in the beach, or literally “touring” around a place you’ve never been. But now tourism gets more physical, more involving, and more exhilarating.

Storm Chasing Tourism

Storm Chasing Tourism is still considered a relatively small market by comparing the influx of tourists, but it was gaining popularity. I, for one, was culling my date for which I will sign up for it.

Tourists pay a storm chasing company to experience a close encounter with the tornados. Of course, the company will provide experts in the field and necessary equipment but there is no warrant of safety. It is for that reason tourists have to sign up for a consent form before getting to the action.

Although there is no guarantee that the team will spot a storm, it just increases the pleasure of the actual rendezvous with the storm.

Paranormal Tourism

Paranormal has been my interest ever since I remember of existing. I have watched numerous scary movies and listened to sleep-depriving horror stories. What do I get out of it? The experience of being scared. Yeah, people seek that.

Paranormal tourism is simply checking into a haunted hotel, house, or any place to feel the thrill of the unseen. These things are unexplained satisfyingly but people desire to extend their experiences to beyond the physical.

Which tourism are you more likely to pay for?

More Moments for you:
Creepy Island of the Dolls
SillyWebsite Names.com
Horsemeat Maltreat