CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. — Sometime between the end of the Apollo missions and the shuttle disasters, space lost its shine.
Instead of Capt. Kirk boldly going where no man has gone before, space shuttle launches barely cause a media ripple. The most recent indignity was the headline-grabbing misadventure of a diaper-wearing, lovesick astronaut.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday March 17, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 46 words Type of Material: Correction
Space tourism: A March 3 article in Section A about space tourism said Los Angeles billionaire Edward Roski Jr. had hiked 28,251 feet to base camp at Mt. Everest three times. He has climbed nearby peak K2, which has an elevation of 28,251 feet, three times.
Now, all that may be about to change.
Companies are angling to cash in on space, hoping that wealthy adventurers, who think nothing of plunking down big bucks for art and wine, will fork out $200,000 for four minutes of zero gravity and an awe-inspiring view of the Earth.
Already, 200 rich daredevils have bought seats priced well below the $20 million that tourists such as Dennis Tito and Anousheh Ansari are paying for stays at the International Space Station.
Los Angeles billionaire Edward Roski Jr. bought ticket No. 128 on Virgin Galactic, one of the companies chartering the out-of-this-world flights.
It's the next logical trip for the 68-year-old real estate mogul. The part owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kings and Staples Center has already conquered earthbound extremes, such as hiking 28,251 feet to base camp at Mt. Everest -- three times -- and contracting a Russian research vessel to take him to the wreck of the Titanic, 2.5 miles beneath the ocean's surface.
"It's got to be a real thrill to go up there," Roski said. "I jumped at it immediately. I said, 'Sign me up!' "
His travel agent, Craig Buck of Montecito Village Travel, didn't even have to break a sweat. "It didn't take a whole lot of selling," Buck said
This fresh space race is fueled by teams of ambitious engineers and affluent businessmen that are developing lunar landing vehicles, rocket racers and spacecraft that will whoosh travelers from Sydney, Australia, to New York in an hour.
"Right now, it's just a fantastic time," said John Spencer, president of the Space Tourism Society. "It's at the birthing phase where these really wealthy, smart people are seeing enormous opportunities."
Even astrophysicist Stephen Hawking plans to hop a flight on Virgin Galactic, the private company with the only reusable, manned spacecraft that has successfully flown to space and back.
Not everyone is sold. Space historian Roger Launius said real space tourism -- weeklong vacations in space and not fleeting moments -- was decades off.
