Lakhasly

AN OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD VACATION

Things that once seemed impossible ten become commonplace with the passing of time There are people predicting that this will happen wen space tourism in the next decade or two Some are even investing in and developing space tourism sectiology, believing that space tourism will be the next big thing. They imagine a future in which space travel will have become a

realty for millions of ordinary people At the moment, space tourism is only a possibility for the incredibly wealthy in 2001 American multi-millionare Dennis Tito paid $20 milion to become the first space tourist. After eight months of rigorous training, Tho traveled aboard Russian capsule that was launched by an

American company called Space Adventures He then spent seven days aboard the tormional Space Station Since then, a number of other millionaire space tourists of different rationalities have gone into space

Although up to now only very wealthy people have had the opportunity to be space tourists, many see this as the beginning of what will eventually become a lucrative new industry There are several companies that have already invested millions of dollars in developing new reusable launch vehicles. Their goal is to lower lunch costs enough to make it possible for the average person to buy a ticket to space. The Japanese Rocket Society, for example, has set a target price of one milion yen (about $10,000)

Vegin Galactic, a British company owned by Richard Branson's Virgin Group, has been working on plans for sending people into space for years. The company is about to begin testing of their eight-seat spacecraft, and expects that they will have worked out any problems by 2022. When the spacecraft is shown to be safe, Virgin Galactic will begin their fights. Although tickets are a steep £100,000 ($123,000), amazingly, the first year of flights has already been booked One of these future passengers is Lisa Ramirez, a mother of three, When asked why she was prepared to spend so much money on a Galactic fight, Ramirez explained Thi 58 years old, and by the time this happens, I will have been dreaming of going to space for at least 45 years

There are even companies working on plans to build hotels for space tourists The Shimizu Corporation, a giant Japanese construction company has detailed plans for a space hotel concept. They plan to create a 64-rcom hotel which will orbit 279 miles (450 kilometers) above the surface of Earth: The hotel wis slowly spin in order to produce enough force to Simulate Earth's gravity, it is estimated that such a space hotel would cost 6 to 12 billion dollers, and would take about six

years to buld Since water was discovered on the moon in 1998, the mutational hotel chain Hilton Hotels has been working on plans for a hotel on the moon. The plans call for a 5,000-room complex with a beach, a working farm, e medical center, and even a school. Two huge solar panels wit the power, Hitton