Russia: Space travel firms say popularity remains despite disaster
Space tourism will continue to thrive despite the recent Columbia space shuttle disaster, according to its proponents.
As reported, American businessman Dennis Tito paid some £14 million for an eight-day trip to the International Space Station, with South African millionaire Mark Shuttleworth making the same trip several months later. But while passenger trips to the station are unlikely in coming months and years because spare seats in Russian space craft will be taken up by Nasa workers, other types of “space tourism” will not be affected.
The Russian Space Agency is continuing to offer “zero gravity” flights on special cosmonaut-training flights, while a similar organisation in the United States is claiming an increase in interest since the Colombia disaster.
And John Brodie-Good, of the UK firm Wildwings, told the Daily Telegraph that space travel would continue: “Space travel will always be more risky than taking a 747 across the Atlantic but it is one of the ultimate experiences.”
