Tourists still eager to take trip to space

Space sales force
Fresh statistics from Wincer show some interesting trends.

The country that is home to the largest number of ticket buyers is the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, Japan, Russia, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Spain, and Ireland. In terms of the proportion of Virgin Galactic customers per capita, the top three countries are New Zealand, Ireland and Denmark.

Of the customers who have signed up so far, 15 percent are female, Wincer's statistics show. Ten percent of total customers booked through a travel agent, but 30 percent of the bookings have been received via Virgin Galactic "Accredited Space Agents" — an initiative launched in January of this year, she said. Accredited Space Agents are registered travel agents who have been specially selected and fully trained on all aspects of the Virgin Galactic offering.

As for Accredited Space Agents around the world, the numbers are as follows:

• Australia has nine travel agencies and about 30 travel consultants.
• New Zealand has one national chain with 10 consultants.
• Japan has one agency with five consultants.
• The United States has 47 consultants from about 45 agencies. All of these are members of Virtuoso, a leading leisure travel network.
• Canada has six consultants from four agencies (who will be trained next week in Vancouver and are all Virtuoso members).
• The United Arab Emirates has one agency with about 12 consultants.
• Then add one agency and two to three consultants from each of the following who are all being trained this week at the International Space University: Austria, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, the United Kingdom, Russia, Israel, and the Czech Republic.

"I mention the number of consultants as they are the ones who actually become 'ASAs' after they undergo our one-day training program covering technology, customer experience, g-forces, medical issues, sales, marketing and public relations," Wincer said. "By doing a quick tally, by the time we finish the training in Vancouver, we should have around 100 ASA consultants worldwide from around 82 agencies in 17 countries."

Takeoff to touchdown
What you get for your $200,000 includes three days of preflight preparation, bonding and training onsite at the spaceport.

The big day arrives with departure of the White Knight Two that cradles SpaceShipTwo, hauling the vehicle and passengers to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) in altitude for release.

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travelers will then be rocketed to around 360,000 feet (109,728 meters) in altitude, some 68 miles (109 kilometers) high, with free-floating passengers experiencing four to five minutes of microgravity.

Faces pressed against large windows, customers get an on-high view of more than 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) in any direction. As for the length of time for SpaceShipTwo to glide to a terra firma touchdown, that takes some 30 minutes. The suborbital journey ends with SpaceShipTwo gliding to a runway landing.

All in all, the suborbital sojourn — from takeoff to touchdown — takes approximately 2.5 hours.

In the United States, those who travel above an altitude of 50 miles (80 kilometers) are designated as astronauts.

The Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the world air sports federation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, defines spaceflight as over 62 miles (100 kilometers). Virgin Galactic passengers will receive Virgin Galactic astronaut wings and may receive Federal Aviation Administration astronaut wings as well.

Spaceport America
While initial spaceline operations will take place at the Mojave Spaceport, Virgin Galactic is to establish its headquarters and operate spaceflights from Spaceport America, now under construction in New Mexico and billed as the world's first "purpose-built" commercial spaceport.

Momentum is picking up in readying Spaceport America for operations — but first the paperwork.

The New Mexico Spaceport Authority anticipates official filing of its license application later this year to the Federal Aviation Administration.

"We expect to receive the Record of Decision on the Environmental Impact Statement and the approval of the license application in early 2008, and we plan to break ground shortly after that," said Rick Homans, Executive Director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority.

"Bottom line...we remain on schedule to be operational by late 2009 or early 2010," Homans told Space.com.

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