Realizing Tomorrow: The Path to Private Spaceflight by Chris Dubbs;Emeline Paat-dahlstrom;Charles D. Walker

Author:Chris Dubbs;Emeline Paat-dahlstrom;Charles D. Walker
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Development, Technology & Engineering, Space Tourism, Business & Economics, Science, 20th Century, Modern, Space Flights, General, Astronautics, 21st Century, Astrophysics & Space Science, Space Industrialization, Astronomy, Aeronautics & Astronautics, History
ISBN: 9780803216105
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Published: 2011-06-01T02:26:40+00:00

On 27 April zoos a chartered jet filled with Western tourists arrived from Moscow at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. They had come to witness the launch the next day of the world's first space tourist, Dennis Tito, aboard the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-32. It would be one small piece of history for the venerable launch complex but a groundbreaking event in the fledgling business of sending private citizens into space.

Baikonur is the largest and oldest space launch facility in the world. Sputnik, the first Earth-orbiting satellite, had begun its journey here in 1957, as had Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, in 1961. All subsequent Russian manned missions had launched from here, as well. Baikonur was a symbol of the storied history of the Russian space program.

However, in the post-Soviet era, Russia no longer owned its premier rocket launch facility but instead leased it for $ its million a year from the now independent nation of Kazakhstan. That change of ownership was but one small measure of how much the space landscape had shifted in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The visitors who emerged from the chartered jet were symbolic of another shift. They were "space tourists," a new demographic that had begun to infuse much-needed revenue into the cash-strapped Russian space program. Working with Western partners, Russia had started to cater to those who wanted a space experience- a tour, a cosmonaut training camp, a zero-g airplane flight. Dennis Tito took the formula to a whole new dimension. For a reported $zo million, he bought a ticket to the International Space Station (iss).

Twenty-five of Tito's family members and friends had traveled to Russia for the launch. His ex-wife and business partner, Suzanne, was among them, as were his sons, Michael and Brad; his girlfriend, Dawn Abraham; and several wealthy friends and colleagues from his investment company, Wilshire Associates.

Accompanying Tito's group was the staff of Space Adventures (sA), a pioneering space tourism company headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. SA CEO and president Eric Anderson stepped off the plane, along with a handful Of SA staff and investors. Though his prematurely receding hairline suggested otherwise, Anderson was a mere twenty-six years old, but he was about to establish himself as the primary player in space tourism.

Anderson had brokered the deal to fly Tito to the iss and had survived through prolonged bargaining with the Russians and strenuous NASA opposition to the flight. Over the past few years, by patiently nurturing complex agreements and adding Russians to his staff, he had come to understand the Russian way of doing business. He had learned how to package the space experience. But Dennis Tito was Anderson's first orbital client, and his flight would have a huge impact. Media attention was intense. The flight would redefine not only Anderson's business but the very concept of access to space.

Having disembarked from the aircraft, the group was herded aboard two minibuses for the hour-long ride over bumpy roads to lodgings at the Sputnik Hotel. The bus

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