Come Fly with me

http://www.space.com/24249-commercial-space-travel-blasts-off-2014.html
http://www.spaceadventures.com/experiences/circumlunar-mission/

In the immortal words of Old Blue Eyes - Come fly with me.

What do you think about private citizens bombing off into space, flipping around the Moon or having a suborbital ride in Branson`s New Mexico Virgin Galactic buggy at an enormous return ticket cost ?

Not for dear old Granny to gulp down her Ginseng tablets and leap out of her wheelchair to have a quick flip into space of course, but only for people who can pass rigid fitness tests to satisfy the demanding conditions of leaving Earth`s gravity in a rocket propelled metallic coffin.

Personally, I think it is a balmy idea, but Branson`s gang in New Mexico reckon there are 600 Gung-Ho enthusiasts with money to burn already signed up to take a risky lob into suborbital ecstasy for $250,000 a ride. Good luck to the Russian mob, just ensure a good supply of diapers.

I have done my fair share of pumping the old adrenaline round my poor system without paying a fortune to do it and reckon a casual sortie round Tesco`s would be far more rewarding and a hell of a lot cheaper.

 

A well known proverb is "its better to travel than to arrive"but perhaps not in this case.

The idea of paying a small fortune to do a round trip and go nowhere is not a concept I would subscribe to.However I have performed such a trip on the Air Valley Railway a steam locomotive round Keighly Haworth and Oxenhope .

Space travel for the general public won't be a viable proposition for a long time yet,a trip into orbit or a quick slingshot round the moon would soon get boring and would hold no more attraction than the latest fairground ride.

It doesn't seem like there is a lot to see(tourist wise)in the local solar system and the vast problems of interstellar space flight seem insurmountable vast distances at sub light speed ,time dilation (the idea when you return your family will have died years ago)

Well good luck Richard Branson its got to start somewhere I suppose.