Japan Travel Agency Looks To Final Frontier

SPACE TOURISM

Space Adventures made history in 2001 by sending the first non-professional astronaut, US businessman Dennis Tito (pictured) , into space on a Russian rocket.

Tokyo (AFP) Aug 18, 2005
With Japanese tourists already travelling all over planet Earth, the nation's leading travel agency said Thursday it will blast off into a new market - space.

JTB Corp. said it has set up an exclusive sales agreement for the Japanese market with US firm Space Adventures to send the country's most adventurous tourists into orbit.

JTB said it would start sales in October and hoped to gross 2.4 billion yen (22 million dollars) in the first year.

On offer from 2008 is an 11 billion-yen (100 million-dollar) journey in a Russian Soyuz rocket that will fly past the dark side of the moon. For 2.2 billion yen, a tourist can spend one week on the International Space Station, after six months of training in Russia's cosmonaut center.

For those with a little less cash on hand, the company will also deploy normal airplanes simulating zero-gravity, with the cheapest trip costing 400,000 yen (3,700 dollars).

Space Adventures opened an office in Tokyo in May, saying it had received thousands of inquiries from aspiring space tourists in the world's second largest economy.

"We are very optimistic about the Japanese market," Space Adventures' chief Eric Anderson told reporters in Tokyo.

Space Adventures made history in 2001 by sending the first non-professional astronaut, US businessman Dennis Tito, into space on a Russian rocket.

The following year, South African Mark Shuttleworth blasted off, also after forking over 20 million dollars to the company. In October, US entrepreneur Greg Olsen will head into space.

The firm last week announced an offer to send tourists around the moon, perhaps as soon as 2008, for a cool 100 million dollars.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

SPACE TOURISM

Putin Takes Supersonic Flight In Long-Range Bomber Plane

Moscow (AFP) Aug 16, 2005
President Vladimir Putin took off from Moscow for a supersonic flight in a cruise-missile carrying Tupolev-160 bomber jet Tuesday, the latest in the Russian leader's action-packed public appearances.

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.