American millionaire Dennis Tito will always be famous. He was the first tourist in space. "I spent sixty years on Earth and eight days in space and from my viewpoint, it was two separate lives," Tito explained. He loved his time in space. "Being in space and looking back at earth is one of the most rewarding experiences a human being can have."
This kind of experience isn"t cheap. It cost $ 20 million. However, Tito achieved his dream, so he was happy. "For me it was a life dream. It was a dream that began when I didn"t have any money," he told reporters.
On April 30, 2002, Mark Shuttleworth became the world"s second space tourist. Shuttleworth is a South African businessman. At the age of twenty-eight, he also paid $20 million for the eight-day trip.
Both Tito and Shuttleworth bought their tickets from a company called Space Adventures. The company has around 100 people already on their waiting list for flights into space. The spaceship to take them doesn"t exist yet.
Many of the customers are persons who like adventure. They are the kind of people who also want to climb Mount Qomolangma. Other customers are people who love space. However, these people are worried. Because it"s so expensive, only very rich people can go into space. They want space travel to be available to more people.
That day may soon be here. Inter Orbital Systems (IOS) plans to send up to four tourists a week into space. The tours will depart from an island in Tonga. The company promises a package that includes forty-five days of astronaut training in Russia and California, seven days in space, and a vacation in Tonga, for $2 million.
However, space flight is still very dangerous. Bill Readdy is NASA"s deputy assistant administrator for space flight. He says that the chances of dying are about 1 in 500. Because of this it may take time before space tourism really takes off. You might be able to go up, but will you come down?