The Hindu Business Line : A space flight for $200,000

New Delhi, Oct 16 If you are over 18 years of age, have a strong heart and healthy lungs and are seeking a new form of adventure just put down a $200,000 deposit to possibly become the first Indian woman and the fourth Indian man to go on a commercial space flight.

Virgin Galactic, a company set up by Mr Richard Branson to end the exclusivity attached to manned space travel, is offering the chance of travelling in space to people looking for more adventure. The company has appointed Deluxe Travel Europe Ltd, as the exclusive accredited space agent for India.

Announcing the project at a press conference, the Head Astronaut Operations, Virgin Galactic, Ms Carolyn Wincer, said that of the four Indian men who have registered, three live abroad.The flights, which are planned on a new spaceship called SpaceShip Two, popularly called SS2, would carry six passengers, and are not likely to take place before end of 2009.

The flight schedule would see the passengers board the mothership, WhiteKnight Two, which would climb to a height of 50,000 feet where it would release SS2 which would fire its rocket motors allowing the spaceship to accelerate in a vertical climb at around 3.3 times the speed of sound. The flight is expected to last for about two hours and passengers would also have a short period of experiencing weightlessness.

And if you do not have $200,000 to spare then wait for some time. Virgin Galactic officials indicated that prices for the trip would fall over a period of time thereby allowing more people to fly.

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