We’ve blogged about the rather mind-blowing new opportunities for the super-rich to go on rockets into space. You might remember the magnate Denis Tito and his adventures as the world’s first space tourist. These trips are ridiculously costly, of course. It will cost you some $15 million for the pleasure of getting hurled into space. Of course to folks like Bill Gates, that’s pocket change, he spends that on DVDs each year. But it has always seemed to me that just going int space isn’t enough. Sure you go up there, the view is great, but you’re stuck inside the cramped rocket and you’re just kind of…there.
OK, OK, if I got the chance to do this I’d go in a heartbeat. Don’t be mistaken. BUT, take a look at this. Turns out that the same company that has been offering these space trips is soon to be offering space walks, too. Yes, for $20 million, Space Adventures will get you a ride to the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. But for an extra $15 million, you can go on a 90-minute spacewalk. Now THAT is what it means to go int space.
Can you even imagine what it would be lie to dangle outside the space station, the entire blue orb of the Earth spinning below you? My heart is in my throat just thinking about it. Of course, it all comes down to two things: a) will any of us get rich enough to afford to do this or b) will it ever get cheap enough. Al I can say is I hope both come true, but at the very least that b) happens in my lifetime.