The Russians are preparing a launch site for manned space vehicles, against the background of the fear that Kazakhstan will stop these flights from its territory. Clipper, the new space vehicle, will allow four tourists to be sent on each flight
Avi Blizovsky
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The company that sent the paying space tourists to the International Space Station said that it is looking for a site for a spaceport from which tourists will be launched on suborbital flights.
Sites in Australia, the Bahamas, Florida, Japan, Malaysia, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Singapore and Dubai attributed to the United Arab Emirates are now on the table of the company from Arlington, Virginia - Space Adventures.
The activities from the spaceport will include suborbital flights, a space training center and other activities.
Securing the location of the space station will be an important step for Space Adventures. said Eric Anderson, the company's president and CEO.
Two space tourists - the American millionaire Dennis Tito and the South African entrepreneur Mark Athelworth flew into space through Space Adventures and two other Americans whose names have not been chosen have already been chosen for the next flight. The price of a flight to orbit around the Earth is 20 million dollars, which covers the cost of the launch in a Russian spacecraft.
The space tourists will finance a satellite base for Russia
Lior Kodner, Haaretz, Walla News!
"I don't like journalists, I don't read newspapers and I don't believe them, but an order is an order," grumbled Colonel Mikhail Ponomarienko, one of the commanders of the "Plisetsk" launch base in northwestern Russia. In 1962 - the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis - nuclear missiles aimed at the USA were placed at the base. In a book published by the Russian Space Agency two years ago, to mark the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the base, it is written that the people of the base "were the main factor that did not allow the US to provoke the Russians once more and drag the world into a nuclear disaster." Since then, the Cold War ended, the USSR collapsed and the Plisset base opened its doors, also to foreign journalists - in an attempt to recruit foreign investors - but the suspicion among the senior officers remained.
27 thousand residents live in the city next to Plissetk, Mirnay, and most of its residents work at the launch base. They arrive at the base every morning in an organized shuttle. French and German satellites have been launched from Plissetk in the past, and in order to survive the base commanders need more international investments.
"Do you know why it is worthwhile to launch satellites from here and not from the USA or France?" Colonel Ponomaryenko asks. "Because of our reliability - our technology is very advanced, and the success rates are the highest in the world. I suppose that the cheap prices in Russia also beckon to the West."
A possible profit of 80 million dollars per flight
Russia operates three cosmodromes - launch sites for satellites. But today, manned space vehicles can only be launched from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan, which is leased by Russia. Two thirds of the satellites built by the former Soviet Union were launched from Plissetsk.
The rate of successful launches from Plisetsk (99%) and the fear that Kazakhstan will stop leasing Baikonur - something that could stop the flow of cash from the developing space tourism industry - caused Moscow to also convert it into a launch site for manned space vehicles. Yes, the main launch of the base has been undergoing extensive renovations for the past two years.
The intention is to launch the space vehicle "Soyuz" and its future successor "Clipper" from Plissetsk, which should enter into use in 2010 and replace the Soyuz after 30 years of space launches. Clipper is considered a more efficient space vehicle: it weighs only 14.5 tons, and it can deviate from its planned course at the time of launch according to the decision of the crew.
According to the chief engineer of the project, Boris Sotnikov, six cosmonauts will be able to crowd aboard the Clipper, compared to three in the Soyuz, and 700 kg of equipment (compared to 200 kg). The space vehicle will be launched on top of the state-of-the-art "Onga" rocket, which is also based on the Soyuz rockets.
Advertisement In today's Russia, money has a central place. The Russian Space Agency notes with satisfaction that the new space vehicle will allow Russia to continue to lead in the field of space tourism. After sending the American millionaire Dennis Tito into space three years ago, as a third passenger in the Soyuz in exchange for about 20 million dollars, Russia is seeking to increase the cash flow from the developing tourism industry.
The Russians plan to send delegations of tourists aboard the Clipper - two crew members and four space tourists. The high prices of flights to space and the increase in demand for space tourism may yield the Russians a profit of about 80 million dollars per launch.
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