Space tourist vehicle unveiled in Russia

The first prototype of a spacecraft designed to take space tourists rather than professional astronauts into space has been unveiled in Russia.

The Cosmopolis 21 (C-21) could take the first civilians on a brief trip into space by 2004, its backers say, with tickets costing $100,000 each. The prototype was unveiled at the Zhukovsky Air Base near Moscow on Thursday.

But at least one expert is sceptical about the potential of this sightseeing space vehicle. Chris Vick, head of space policy at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), says the project has a long way to go before becoming a viable means of commercial space travel.

“It’s all very well to have a mock-up but building the real hardware, flying it and proving it is another issue,” Vick told New Scientist. “Rocket science ain’t that cheap. Most projects fold before they get off the ground.”

The C-21’s designers say it could carry a pilot and two passengers to an altitude of 100 kilometres. It could remain there for three minutes before flying back to Earth. At this height, the spacecraft’s crew would get a spectacular view of the Earth and experience weightlessness.

The spacecraft would climb to an altitude of 27 km atop a M55-X Russian aircraft before detaching and igniting its own engines to reach maximum altitude. It was designed by the Russian aeronautics companies Myasishchev Design Bureau and the Cosmopolis XXI Suborbital Corporation.

US company Space Adventures hopes to sell flights on the C-21 to fund the scheme. The company says it has 250 potential tourists lined up. These are people who have paid an undisclosed fee to reserve a seat on a future commercial space flight.

The spacecraft’s designers are confident that C-21 will succeed. “This is a revolutionary concept that will lead the way towards an entirely new generation of cheaper, more reliable and fully reusable spacecraft,” said Valery Novikov, Chief Designer at MDB.

Eric Anderson, President and CEO of Space Adventures added: “Sub-orbital flights are central to the space tourism industry. The demand for these flights already exists, now it is just a matter of developing affordable aerospace systems like the C-21.”