Spaceflights now for sale; scary part is price

Considering space travel on one of Virgin Galactic's new ships?

The sales pitch goes like this: The first hour will be relatively painless, a graceful ascent in a spaceship attached to a mother ship. Once the vessels reach 50,000 feet, the ship containing you, five more tourists and two pilots will detach and fall for a moment.

Then, the thrusters will propel it up for 90 seconds, traveling three times the speed of sound. All of the spacecraft's fuel will burn away, leaving its tanks empty.

The G-forces on your body will push your blood toward your feet. It is hoped that you won't black out, but if you do, you'll come to when you're at zero gravity.

Once above the undefined line that delineates Earth from space, your craft will arch to a height of 360,000 feet for about four minutes. You will be weightless and have stunning views of Earth's curvature, 1,000 miles in any direction.

And then gravity will beckon the vessel down to Earth, the human bodies within it feeling pressure six times their weight, sort of like a "big, hairy, fat cat sitting on your chest."

Total approximate time: two hours and nine minutes. All this for only $200,000 -- a lot of money to most folks, but a mere fraction of the millions spent by previous space tourists.

Bothell travel agent Angie Lepley is getting quite good at making the pitch: Earlier this year, she was chosen as one of 45 agents countrywide who are permitted to sell Virgin Galactic tours. She is the only agent in Washington, Idaho and Oregon who sells the trips.

"People do yachts and private villas and first-class airfare," Lepley said. "In the scheme of how people travel nowadays, I don't think (the price) is a lot."

Being chosen is a boon for Tangerine Travel, which Lepley founded in 1988. Her company, originally named ETI Travel, is one of 907 licensed travel agencies in Washington.

Last Thursday, Tangerine held a stylish client-appreciation event at a still-under-construction, 12,000-square-foot office in Bothell. Her business, with 57 employees, has outgrown its Kirkland location.

Guests were told that a Virgin Galactic representative would be on hand to answer questions. The representative turned out to be President Will Whitehorn. The Londoner said he was in town to visit Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder who kick-started funding for Virgin Galactic's ship with 25 million British pounds, which converts to about $52 million at present exchange rates.



Space tourism is real

Ten years ago, space tourism was considered far-fetched and sensational. But as the noise from screaming headlines died away, the entrepreneurs determined to make it reality have been quietly perfecting their spaceports and crafts. Among them is Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, who operates Blue Origin, a secretive company with operations in Kent and in Culberson County, Texas.

Around the U.S., 16 commercial spaceports -- sort of like airports for spaceships -- are finished or planned. They will operate outside the bounds of both the Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Space tourism could generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue by 2021, the FAA says. The largest share of that revenue will come from suborbital flights, such as the ones proposed by Virgin Galactic.

So far, Vienna, Va.-based Space Adventures Ltd. is the only company that has put private citizens in space. It works with the Russian Space Agency, NASA and the International Space Station partners

"We are the only company that takes people up right now and will be, probably, I'd say, for the next four years," Chief Executive Eric Anderson said.

The most recent tourist was Charles Simonyi, who formerly led Microsoft Corp.'s Word and Excel teams. He reportedly paid about $25 million for the trip.

Other space tourism companies aren't competition for Space Adventures, Anderson said.

"I kind of consider them potential providers and partners in the future," he said. "We're not building rockets. We are an experience provider."

The FAA governs space tourism by licensing commercial rockets and issuing experimental launch permits. But it cannot guarantee that the programs being offered are safe -- people who sign up are giving informed consent, which means they are aware of the dangers, said FAA spokesman Hank Price.

Billionaire Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group, expects his company to be the next to put citizens in space. Up to five new tourists sign up per month, said Whitehorn, the Virgin Galactic president. Virgin already has sold nearly 200 seats, and holds $26 million in customer deposits. The first flight is planned for 2010.

News about Virgin's progress had been limited until an explosion at the Mojave Desert facility killed three technicians in July, which forced public scrutiny upon spacecraft construction.

'On the cutting edge'

Lepley, in Bothell, completed a training course at Cape Canaveral in Florida, where she learned how to sell space tours. She is marketing the trips to corporations and high-net-worth people, but no one has yet plunked down a deposit. Deposits start at $20,000.

But, she said, Seattle is full of adventuresome types and she expects a deposit in a few days. "They've done Italy, they've done the African safari, they've done Nepal," she said.

Her commission on each trip sold -- 3 percent -- is not as high as other travel sales, but her company gets name recognition, "and to be on the cutting edge and sell something for the adventurous soul," she said.

Huib van Leeuwen, 42, a Seattle engineer, is one such soul. He's already registered his interest online.

"It's something of a real fantasy, going into space," he said. His biggest concern is that the other people in the craft could ruin the experience.

He looked longingly at a model spacecraft at the Bothell party on Thursday. He hasn't yet made a deposit, he confessed, nor saved the money to go.

How long until it's his turn? "I'm talking to my wife about it."

WHICH TRIP IS THE BARGAIN?

SPACE ADVENTURES tourists pay about $25 million to spend two weeks at zero gravity, totaling 20,160 minutes.

Per-minute cost: $1,240

VIRGIN GALACTIC will charge $200,000 for its trip, which includes four minutes at zero gravity.

Per-minute cost: $50,000

INTO SPACE

Commercial human spaceflight milestones:

April 1, 2004: U.S. government issues the first launch license for a reusable launch vehicle to Scaled Composites. The company is building a spaceship for Virgin Galactic.

April 8, 2004: Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne completes the first private- sector human commercial rocket launch.

June 17, 2004: U.S. government issues the first license for an inland spaceport to Mojave, Calif.

June 21, 2004: U.S. government awards Mike Melvill the first commercial astronaut wings for his successful flight of SpaceShipOne.

Oct. 4, 2004: An international competition awards $10 million, called the XPrize, to Scaled Composites for its successful flights of SpaceShipOne. Pilot Brian Binnie receives the FAA's second set of commercial astronaut wings.

Dec. 31, 2006: FAA issues requirements for crew and passengers involved in private space travel.

April 6, 2007: FAA completes guidelines for obtaining experimental launch permits.

Source: Federal Aviation Administration