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Space – The New Frontier of Tourism
Space Tourism – The Frontier of a New World
Mr. Jason KLASSI - Space Traveler Inc. Space Tourism Society, Los Angeles, California, USA
(Slide n°1)
Good morning. Thank you Professor Keller and Mr. Chalet for inviting me to this side of our planet and the amazing biosphere of Chamonix Mont-Blanc. On top of this beautiful mountain, we are less than 100 kilometers from space, the new frontier of tourism.(Slide n°2)
Today, I want to show you that Space Tourism is a bold frontier of a whole new world.(Tito headlines)
What are the limits of tourism? As infinite as space! Finally, space tourism is a legitimate industry. On April 28th, 2001 the first space tourist Dennis Tito left Earth on his historical 8-day vacation in space.(Tito & Space Tourism Pioneer Awards)
Dennis is a friend of mine. I had the pleasure of hosting the Space Tourism Pioneer Awards where we honored him on the first anniversary of his flight.(Tito in ISS)
Dennis loves space. During his space vacation, Dennis says he got the best sleep of his life and spent most of his time floating weightless, listening to opera and looking out the window at Earth.(Shuttleworth)
A year later South African Mark Shuttleworth became Space Tourist #2.(ISS and Soyuz)
Next year the world will watch as 2 more space tourists travel together to the ISS– at the same time. Would you like to be the first father and son, the first mother and daughter …(Couple in orbit)
…or the first husband and wife floating weightless in space with Earth in the background?(Wright Bros/SpaceShip One)
And now, after 100 years of powered flight, we are soon to witness the next major breakthrough in aviation.(Flight through Atmosphere)
The imminent launch of private, affordable, sub-orbital flights will make space tourism available to thousands and then millions of people. People want to go to space. A CNN pole found that 86% of people want to space travel.(Sub-orbital travel)
Sub-orbital space travel will create entirely new markets. For example, with sub-orbital flights you can fly from Paris to Los Angeles in just 2 hours, deliver a package around the world in the same day, launch satellites cheaply and, the best part, have fun in weightlessness and get a life-changing view of earth.(Earth-Moon image)
Space Tourism is the driving force behind a much grander space travel industry. Apollo 11 moon walker Buzz Aldrin is designing space facilities that orbit the Earth, the moon and cycle like space ferries between the two.(Space Resort)
Companies like Hilton and Kawasaki have been designing space hotels for 2 decades. Hotels like this would rotate and create artificial gravity.(Buzz Aldrin)
Buzz Aldrin says “with space tourism “Not only would tens of millions of U.S. citizens be able to travel in space. . .”,(Moon image)
… but the hardware necessary for returning to the moon and exploring Mars can also be realized1. » Space is an important part of our future.(UN Space Solutions)
Just this year, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs held an event in Vienna called Space Solutions to the World’s Problems: How the United Nations is using Space Technology for Sustainable Development.(ESA Space Policy)
In addition, the European Space Agency looked at “space as a new frontier for an expanding Union"2,(ESA Sustainable development)
The ESA concluded “if the challenge is sustainable development, then the solution is space.”(ESA agricultural model)
The study also found that Space supports the development of sustainable agricultural models – whether that is the UNESCO Biosphere of Entelbuch or the Biosphere II project in Arizona.(O’Neil image)
Future space facilities, like this vision of a very large space colony conceived by Dr. Gerard O’Neil of the Princeton Space Studies Institute, must be financially and ecologically sustainable biospheres.(Tourist photographing Earth)
After 20 years in this field, I believe the heart of the Space Tourism industry is the very human experience in space of…(Space Walker)
Floating weightless . . . feeling the physical sensation of flying free in zero gravity. . . and looking at our fragile planet in the blackness of space.(Earth)
Like astronauts who have gone before us, we will return from space with new and profound perceptions about ourselves and our place in the world. From space we see no boundaries on Earth.(Earth Tribe)
We are all one human race on spaceship Earth. As Aquanaut Jacques-Yves Cousteau wrote, “The meaning of space conquest is symbolized in the pictures (of Earth) celebrating the birth of a global consciousness that will help build a peaceful future for humankind.”(Earth)
The first time we saw our home planet as a living, sustainable BIOSPHERE I – the Earth, you and I, everyone and everything on it - was in pictures taken on the way to the Moon. The first view of the Antarctica biosphere was taken by the Apollo 17 astronauts on the way to the moon in 1972 - the first time an Apollo trajectory allowed a photograph of the Antarctica ice sheet.(Mont-Blanc from space)
Just as travel on Earth makes us aware of unique biospheres like Antarctica and Mont-Blanc, space travel makes us aware of the delicate balance of our planet as a whole.(Mountain and Space)
Just as we seek the majesty of the mountains, we seek the majesty of space.(Oceans and Space)
In the same way, we seek the magic of weightlessness in both the oceans and space.(Space walker)
We as human creatures want to defy gravity and go beyond our limitations. We want to experience the joy and special individual freedom that comes with weightlessness. Take a look underwater and you’ll see what I mean.(Astronaut and SCUBA diver)
Both an astronaut floating in space and a SCUBA diver floating in the ocean assume what is called the Neutral Body Posture. The need for legs to stand up against gravity is all but eliminated.(Astronaut and HAS diver)
When I first got involved in space tourism, I had the privilege of SCUBA diving with some wonderful people from the Handicapped SCUBA Divers Association (HSA). Here is some footage we shot that day.(Video footage begins: Wheelchairs at beach)
These people are unable to walk like you and I. They are paraplegics or double amputees. Yet, they struggle to put on wet suits, crawl great distances across the sand on their hands, any way they can to reach the ocean’s edge. There, they put on heavy SCUBA tanks and battle pounding surf before finally floating free in the weightlessness of the ocean world. They don’t use flippers – ankle weights keep the legs from floating randomly.(Kelp forest)
There was this one really great young man, Will. We took Will, in his wheelchair, all the way from the beach to the bottom of a kelp forest. There he sat, seemingly helpless in his wheelchair with the kelp swaying just beyond his reach. Then, with the greatest of ease, Will floated up and out of that wheelchair as if he had just reached 0-Gravity – free of his own limitations.(H.S.A. Diver transitions into Astronaut)
Will made me realize that we all yearn to break the physical bounds of gravity and go beyond our limitations. This is the heart of the space tourism experience.Someday those SCUBA divers will also be floating in space.
(ISS & Tito)
Where is space tourism today? Space Adventures, the company that flew Tito and Shuttleworth, is offering the First All-Tourist Space Flight to the International Space Station aboard the new Soyuz spacecraft. 12 people have already applied for only 2 seats. It won’t be cheap — $20 million per seat and qualifying will not be simple.(Space tourism already exists)
For most of us, space tourism is limited to adventures on the surface of the planet, zero-gravity adventures, flights on high-altitude jets and soon sub-orbital flights. The cost ranges from $1,000 - $98,000. The terrestrial space tourism business is estimated at $1 billion dollars per year.(Shuttle Launch)
People love space! Over 10 million people each year watch a shuttle launch(Space museum)
… visit a space museum like the Smithsonian, a rocket center like Kennedy, a planetarium like the new Rose Center in New York…(Mission Space)
... a space theme attraction like Disney’s Mission to Space…(Observatory)
… or one of the world’s observatories like this one in Hawaii where you can view distant galaxies in the universe.(0-G flights)
If this is not exciting enough, you can experience zero gravity in the same specialized aircraft used to train astronauts. Space Adventures offers zero-gravity flights today out of Star City, Russia and the ZERO-G Corporation will begin offering this service in America next year.(Parabolic flights)
Weightlessness is experienced each time the aircraft descends at the same speed a person falls through the air. Approximately 30 seconds of weightlessness is achieved per parabola. 10-20 parabolas per flight provide a total of 5-10 minutes of 0-Gravity.(High Altitude Jets/view)
If it is a view you want, fly to the edge of space on variety of high-altitude supersonic jets. Experience the G forces of lift-off and the view from 85,000 feet for approximately 5000 Euros.(Sub-orbital space tourism)
The next step is private sub-orbital space flights. Finally, private companies will soon give the people what they want – affordable space flight.(Suborbital chart)
Sub-orbital space is only 100 kilometers away . . . Closer to Chamonix than Paris! Orbital space is twice that distance.(Shuttle and Soyuz)
Until now, after 40 years and over $1 trillion dollars, the cost of getting to space has been too expensive. The U.S. space shuttle is almost a quarter century old and costs $100 miller per passenger. The Russian Soyuz is 40 years old and costs $20 million per passenger.(Starchaser)
Finally, private sub-orbital spacecraft will reduce the cost of getting to space.(Sub-orbital Chart)
To bolster the space tourism industry, Peter Diamandis started a new space race called the X-Prize which is offering a $10 million dollar award to the first private company to carry 3 people to an altitude of 100 kilometers, return them safely to Earth and then doing it again within 14 days. The craft will not go into orbit but will graze space, giving an orbit-like view of the Earth and perhaps 5 minutes of weightlessness.(Ascender image)
21 teams from around the world are competing. For example, the Ascender, by Concorde designer David Ashford, takes off and lands just like an airplane.(Canadian Arrow)
The Canadian Arrow, unveiled in New York this year, takes off vertically and lands with parachutes, like the Soyuz.(Russian craft)
The Russian Cosmopolis is like a miniature space shuttle but takes off from the back of a mother ship at an altitude of about 65,000 feet.(Rutan Image)
One of the leading contenders is Burt Rutans’ two-stage rocket ship. Burt gained notoriety as the designer of the Voyager aircraft that went around the world without stopping to refuel.(Rutan Image 2)
Like the Russian craft, Spaceship One takes off from underneath the mother ship White Knight.(Interior cabin view)
A typical sub-orbital flight would last about 15 minutes and cost $98,000 but still give you the heart of the space tourism experience: 5 minutes of weightlessness and a spectacular view of Earth. Over 200 peolple have already paid $2,300,000 in cash deposits on sub-orbital flights. ($20 million in business.)(Visa Card Image)
By the way, with every purchase on my X-Prize Visa card, I earn extra frequent flyer ‘space travel miles’.(Woman in space suit)
Is space tourism more than a small market niche? There is a worldwide demand for space tourism - both men and women. 8 out of 10 people under 40 would pay several months salary to go. Some say they would pay even a year’s salary or more to go to space3.(Futron image)
The recent Futron Survey4 indicates that about 10,000 Americans would spend up to $100,000 for a sub-orbital space adventure. There could be 15,000 sub-orbital flights a year by 2020.(Futron image)
For orbital missions, even at $20 million, the Futron Survey still forecasted up to 60 travelers per year by 2020 assuming that a destination like the International Space Station (ISS) is available for the travelers5.(Kankoh-Maru)
How great is the potential for space tourism? Will it remain only the activity of a few rich individuals? The Japanese Rocket Society put forth a scenarios based upon this craft, the Kanko – Maru. If you could build eight 50-passenger space vehicles per year, charging only $25,000 per flight, by 2020 there could be 1 million passengers traveling to space per year.(Hilton Hotel)
In this somewhat optimistic scenario, by 2030 we could see 5 million passengers per year with over 20,000 people working in space as hotel staff(Lunar biosphere)
Someday, sustainable biospheres on the Moon will grow food for lunar travelers. Space Tourism improves our ability to live on Earth and Off-Earth.(Moonrise)
Are there ethical limits to space travel? Certainly we shouldn’t turn the moon into a nuclear waste dump or litter near-earth space with debris from space hotels. But as we’ve seen, space travel can help us to better manage our ecosystems and Biospheres on Earth. And in the event of man made disaster or natural disaster, learning to live off the planet for some period of time, would help ensure the very survival of humankind.(Girl looking up)
At the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development in 1992, the participating nations were united in their Pledge for our Common Future: Space travel helps us to fulfill this pledge by making Earth a more secure and hospitable home for present and future generations.So, from wherever we are on Earth, just remember the next great frontier of tourism is right above our heads and by traveling there we go beyond our limitations and experience a new kind of freedom.
(Quarter Earth)
Thank you and have a great orbit!
1 E. Anderson, Space Adventures, The Steps to Space presentation .
Commission of European Communities, November, 2003. Space: The new European Frontier for an Expanding Union. Back to the text
2 P. Collins, July 2003, Space Tourism Market Demand and the Transportation Infrastructure. Back to the text
3 D. Weber, February 2003, Public Space Markets - What We Know and What We Don’t Know. Back to the text
4 D. Weber, February 2002, The Ascent Study - Understanding the Market Environment for the Follow-on to the Space Shuttle. Back to the text
5 P. Collins, July 2003, Space Tourism Market Demand and the Transportation Infrastructure. Back to the text
