High-flying plane to take space tourists onboard
Published 03 February, 2010, 09:40
Edited 08 February, 2010, 11:01
The Russian-made “Geophysica” was designed to be the highest flying plane in the world, able to reach an altitude of 21 kilometers, and for ten years served as a laboratory studying the upper levels of the atmosphere.
Now its developers have a whole new mission in store:
“Our goal is to send large groups of people to around 100 kilometers above ground where they will be able to see our planet and space with their own eyes,” says chief specialist Stanislav Smirnov from the aircraft constructing center in Zhukovsky in the Moscow region.
In order to achieve this goal, the developers want to use the Geophysica's ability to carry cargo attached to its body. The plane will take off carrying a small space shuttle which will be released at a certain altitude.
The Geophysica will then head back to earth, while the shuttle will transport tourists to orbit and back.
“After detaching from the plane, a rocket engine pushes the shuttle into close orbit. After spending several minutes at its highest altitude, it descends and lands at an airport,” explains chief designer Aleksandr Bruk.
The developers say they need around $200 million to put the shuttle into production. And the ticket price for passengers will be around $200,000. Already the list of people wanting to make the trip is growing.
A bigger, 14-seater version of the shuttle is also being designed. It can be carried by another plane – the Atlant, which transported the Buran, the only Soviet space shuttle in history.
It is planned that the three-seater spacecraft's crew will consist of a pilot, who will sit in front, and two passengers in the back. They will not need to go through any intense physical training with the only major test being a health check. The whole flight from take-off to landing will take around one hour. And for five whole minutes the crew will be able see what the Earth looks like from space in zero gravity.
British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic has also unveiled the world's first ever commercial passenger spaceship.
The spaceship, designed to carry eight passengers and two pilots, is now undergoing testing, but Branson hopes to launch space tourists into zero gravity within just two or three years.
The flight promises something of a quick thrill as those on board will experience zero gravity for only around six minutes.
Space analyst Yury Karash says that, although there is much in common between Branson's project and the Russian one, this will not entail a space race.
“If we talk about tourist space race, Russia has already won it, because it has launched about seven space tourists into outer space, all of whom flew to the International Space Station,” Karash says. “As for suborbital space race, I do not think it is significant enough to talk about it in terms of a race.”
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