For Space Tourists, It’s Training Time

Sept. 7, 2007 — Their spaceship is still under wraps, but 100 space buffs are beginning training for the ride of a lifetime.

In preparation for a suborbital jaunt aboard an air-launched rocketship, passengers this month are to report to a private training institute in Pennsylvania known as the National Aerospace Training and Research Center, or NASTAR.

NASTAR’s parent company, Environmental Tectonics Corp., won an exclusive training services contract with Virgin Galactic, an offshoot of Richard Branson’s London-based Virgin Group, which plans to operate a fleet of commercial spaceliners for joy rides, scientific research and commercial endeavors.

The kick of a rocket used to catapult a ship into space can leave passengers wishing they’d never left the ground, and with ticket prices going for $200,000 apiece, Virgin wants to be sure customers don’t spend their few minutes in space with their head in a bag.

“Motion sickness is mostly psychological,” said Alex Howerton, a long-time space aficionado who serves as NASTAR’s business development director. “You say ‘sickness’ and it’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

(Source: http://dsc.discovery.com)

I think it’s funny to see that we are going to send people in those jets when we have technology, in covert project, that can bring us to mars in a blink of an eye

For Space Tourists, It’s Training Time

Sept. 7, 2007 — Their spaceship is still under wraps, but 100 space buffs are beginning training for the ride of a lifetime.

In preparation for a suborbital jaunt aboard an air-launched rocketship, passengers this month are to report to a private training institute in Pennsylvania known as the National Aerospace Training and Research Center, or NASTAR.

NASTAR’s parent company, Environmental Tectonics Corp., won an exclusive training services contract with Virgin Galactic, an offshoot of Richard Branson’s London-based Virgin Group, which plans to operate a fleet of commercial spaceliners for joy rides, scientific research and commercial endeavors.

The kick of a rocket used to catapult a ship into space can leave passengers wishing they’d never left the ground, and with ticket prices going for $200,000 apiece, Virgin wants to be sure customers don’t spend their few minutes in space with their head in a bag.

“Motion sickness is mostly psychological,” said Alex Howerton, a long-time space aficionado who serves as NASTAR’s business development director. “You say ‘sickness’ and it’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

(Source: http://dsc.discovery.com)

I think it’s funny to see that we are going to send people in those jets when we have technology, in covert project, that can bring us to mars in a blink of an eye