Space May Be Final Frontier for Chinese Tourists
FYI,
"Space May Be Final Frontier for Chinese Tourists"
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=585&e=1&u=/nm/20050228/sc_nm/space_china_dc
: Wealthy Chinese can add an exotic new choice to their growing list
: of holiday destinations -- space.
: China put its first man in space in 2003, but one of the next may
: be paying for the privilege since a U.S. firm began commercial
: spaceflight services in the China market in partnership with a Hong
: Kong firm, newspapers said on Monday.
: The first Chinese customer, surnamed Jiang from the booming
: southern city of Shenzhen, had already put down a deposit of more
: than 1 million yuan ($120,800) for a zero-gravity thrill ride, the
: Beijing Morning Post said, quoting an executive from the U.S.-based
: Space Adventures.
: "If everything goes smoothly, he will fly into space in 2006," it
: said, noting that Jiang had signed up for a short sub-orbital
: flight that would take him to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere.
: Such a voyage was one of the cheaper choices in Space Adventure's
: portfolio for the Chinese market, which also includes Earth orbits
: and accommodation on space stations, the newspaper said.
: More than 100 would-be space tourists worldwide have paid the
: company sizable deposits for rides on spacecraft not even built
: yet.
: "Plans call for more than 20 Chinese tourists to be able to go to
: the United States to undergo ground-based space travel training as
: soon as May," the Beijing News said.
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Mark Reiff <markreiff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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