Space Tourism.

[Padders]

I'm rather intrigued with the idea of space tourism!

I've been reading some articles whereby certain companies have announced that in the next few years they will be offering trips to the Isle of Moon, and then onwards into bits of space where no man has gone before.

Passengers will be loaded on board one of four second-hand recycled American re-entry capsules and then blasted into space.

From here they will embark on an eight month round trip through the final frontier.

I'm led to believe that Sir Richard Branson is currently engaged in the development of space tourism and I'm not quite sure why, because almost everyone I've talked to say they'd rather spend their holidays in the No. 4 reactor at Fukushima.

They tell me that space flight frightens them because if something goes wrong, there's no air.

This, of course, is true, but there is also no air in the sea and that doesn't stop anyone snorkelling, plus space is not full of fish that will stick a spear through your heart, or inject you with poison, or tear your leg off.

 

Also, space is not full of currents that will whisk you off to Venus, or people on jet skis who will run you down, or doped-up boatmen who will forget where they dropped you off and leave you out there until your tongue is the size of a marrow and you die a slow, agonizing death. only a few humans have ever died in space, plenty, however have died in the sea..

I will agree that there are a few problems with space tourism. Cost is one.

Would you pay £100 million for a round trip to the Isle of Moon.

And then there's the boredom, for a while the lack of gravity is undoubtedly fun, you can have a good laugh at everyone's hair floating about like seaweed and spend an amusing few moments trying to convince your mates that the globule of liquid floating past their faces is actually tasty orange juice and not a drop of urine that somehow escaped from the lavatory...

 

But then what?

On a cruise ship, you can stop off at the Virgin Islands for "romantic cocktails" but you can't do that in space, you can't even sleep with Captain Kirk.

You just have to sit there looking out of the window at nothing for half a million miles, wondering whether an American recycled spaceship is the right vehicle for the job.

So, if you could afford it, would you become a "Space Tourist" 

I wouldn't.

[Anna B]

Amazing. We won't be able to drive anywhere  for Eco restrictions, but people that can afford it will be allowed to blast off into orbit... Anybody seen the emissions those things give off?

 

Makes private jets look innocent...

[hauxwell]

If I was offered a free place on a space tourist rocket or a tourism sub to view the Titanic it would be a definite no!  What are the chances of being rescued if something went wrong while in space or at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean?