Man on the moon

[Bhelliom]

MOSCOW (AP) - A Russian rocket manufacturer is offering to send space tourists on a ride around the moon for $100 million US, and a top official of the nation's space agency said the project could be viable.

Nikolai Moiseyev, deputy head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, said the agency had just started considering the proposal by the RKK Energia company. The trip around the moon would include a weeklong stay aboard the international space station, Energia chief Nikolai Sevastyanov said Wednesday.

The project would involve reliable Soyuz booster rockets that have been the mainstay of the Soviet and Russian space program since the 1960s.

"The project is absolutely realistic and we have come close to implementing it," Sevastyanov said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

The cash-strapped Russian space program has sought to supplement scarce government funding with revenues from space tourism. California businessman Dennis Tito paid the Russian space agency about $20 million for a weeklong trip to the international space station in 2001, and South African Mark Shuttleworth followed suit the a year later.

A millionaire U.S. scientist, Gregory Olsen, has signed a deal with the Russian space agency to fly to the orbiting station as early as October, when the next Soyuz mission is scheduled to bring supplies and a new crew to the station.

Sevastyanov said sending space tourists to fly around the moon could help generate interest in its exploration, including tapping helium-3 as an energy source to satisfy energy demands back on Earth.

Scientists believe the moon's supply of helium-3 could be used in futuristic fusion reactors on Earth that would generate electricity without producing nuclear waste. Such fusion technology could also power rockets for deep space travel in the future.

[Trev]

$100 million!!! That's one expensive vacation, but imagine the views

[Bhelliom]

yeah good times... I wonder if you can get a payment plan for that....
20 bucks a month for a few years or something :P

[Evil Chris]

Imagine you go all the way there, and realize you forgot to put film in your camera.

[MorganGrayson]

I'd still rather see the Grand Canyon. Call me a "my planet first" kinda gal.

[Evil Chris]

Originally Posted by MorganGrayson

I'd still rather see the Grand Canyon. Call me a "my planet first" kinda gal.

I finally saw it a few years ago. Spectacular.

[MorganGrayson]

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

I finally saw it a few years ago. Spectacular.

For someone who is deathly afraid of both heights and flying, I long to do both: I want to see the Grand Canyon, which may be best viewed by one of those helicopter rides, and I want to see mountains, which are best viewed from above. I'd also like to take one of those whitewater boat rides down the Canyon. Alas, walking down is out of the question for me and wheelchairs don't do steps.

I saw a film in the 80's with Glen Frey doing the raft thing. It was a gorgeous piece of film.

I also want to take the cruise to Alaska and see icebergs and Beluga whales (my favorite of all animals) in their natural habitat.

[Bhelliom]

Originally Posted by MorganGrayson

I'd still rather see the Grand Canyon. Call me a "my planet first" kinda gal.

You can see it from space....

all of it even... and not just one part

[Bhelliom]

Did you know that the height of fear is 33 feet?

at that point you will be the most scared of heights. The fear will continue to build up until that point and then remain the same at any height higher.

This is why all military rapelling towers are 35 ft at least.

It makes sense because the human mind can't really comprehend a fall higher than that. 15 000 feet is just such an awesome distance for example that the mind can't possibly imagine falling that far.

just a little bit of useless info

"It's not the fall that kills you. Its the sudden stop at the end"

[Steady]

I've had the pleasure of venturing out to space....

That is the same as being spaced out?