New York: Seeking an ultimate vacation? Forget planet Earth. The time is fast approaching when you can go into space to see a sunrise and sunset every 90 minutes. A team of international researchers has predicted that space
tourism will
rocket into reality in this century and the "final frontier" could begin showing up in a number of travel guides by the year 2010.
Till now, only a few multi-millionaires have been able to afford the current USD 20 million pricetag to go up in a Russian rocket for a two-week stay at the International Space Station. But,
according to the researchers, shorter and more affordable "suborbital" space flights, costing USD 80,000 per trip, will drive space tourism in the near term. "During these flights, a spacecraft reaches space, but it does not
enter Earth''''s orbit.
suborbital trips are likely to become available to tourists by 2010-2015, while tourism in space hotels is on a longer trajectory, predicted to become a reality in 2025. "Passengers will enter a world that only astronauts and cosmonauts have experienced -- the acceleration of a rocket launch, weightlessness and a spectacular view of the Earth," lead researcher Silvia Ciccarelli of the University of Rome La Sapienza said.
The low-gravity environment 600 to 2,000 kilometres above Earth would suddenly make Leonardo da Vinci''''s dreams and drawings of human-powered flight possible, using fabric wings
attached to the arms, and tails attached to the ankles, according to Ciccarelli. "Many recreational and sports activities also could exploit this possibility given a fairly large chamber," she was quoted by the ''''ScienceDaily'''' as saying.
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