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Space rides for sale: $98,000
But don't pack your bags just yet
October 22, 1997
Web posted at: 1:41 p.m. EDT (1741 GMT)SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- An adventure travel company here is signing up clients for a 62-mile (100 km) trip -- straight up, into space. Length of flight: two minutes. Cost: $98,000.
Potential passengers are being asked to leave a $9,000 deposit while Zegrahm Space Voyages works on details, such as getting a launch site and government approval.
But the Seattle company promises a refund if the idea doesn't get off the ground by December 1, 2001, a little more than four years from now.
According to its Web site, Zegrahm Space Voyages and its technology partner promise "a safe, comfortable flight featuring a two-vehicle Space Cruiser System."
In the first stage of the proposed flight, a twin jet-powered, broad-wing aircraft carries the passenger compartment -- called the Space Cruiser -- to an altitude of 50,000 feet. At that point, the two vehicles separate and the Space Cruiser's rocket engine will ignite, vaulting it into weightless space 62 miles above sea level.
Passengers dressed in suits similar to those worn by shuttle astronauts will be able to play in the weightlessness for about two minutes before the cruiser returns to Earth.
Six people and a two-man crew can go on each voyage. The company's Scott Fitzsimmons says the experience won't be any more strenuous than the average roller coaster ride.
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