With a fleet of rocketships and two spaceports on the way, a high-flying tourism firm is taking passenger spaceflight to the next level.

In the last week, the Arlington, Virginia-based firm Space Adventures has announced plans for a new suborbital spacecraft and spaceports near major airports in the United Arab Emirates and Singapore that, it hopes, will draw eager customers seeking the space experience.

“These sites in the United Arab Emirates and in Singapore are just the initial steps [for private spaceflight],” Space Adventures CEO Eric Anderson told SPACE.com. “They are essentially the stead to rally around.”

At the heart of Space Adventures’ plan is the Explorer spacecraft, a vehicle to be developed under a partnership with the Texas-based Prodea – a firm founded by the Ansari family, which put up the $10 million prize money and their namesake for the suborbital X Prize competition.

“We are absolutely building a global market,” Anderson said. “I think it’s a huge milestone in private spaceflight.”

Space Adventures has been a staple of sorts for orbital space tourism, helping millionaires reach the International Space Station (ISS) on 10-day trips with announced costs of about $20 million each. U.S. scientist and CEO Gregory Olsen – who reached the ISS in October 2005 – was the third and most recent space tourist.

Source: SPACE.com
Written By: Tariq Malik (SPACE Staff Writer)