Once in a Lifetime

Courtesy Google Images

According to Space.com on April 28, 2001, multimillionaire Dennis Tito became the first space tourist. He paid the Russians $20 million to ride a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). Tito says he had dreamed of going to space since April 12, 1961, when Russian cosmonaut YuriGagarin became the first human in space.

Tito spent six days on the ISS and landed in Kazakhstan on May 6, 2001. Space.com reported that Tom Shelley, president of Space Adventures, the Virginia-based company that brokered Tito's eight-day mission, said, "The private spaceflight industry did start with Dennis' flight.”

Tito’s love affair with space is alive and well. He’s helping to underwrite a group called Inspiration Mars that plans to send one couple, in their 50s, on a 501 day trip around the Red Planet.

Courtesy Google Images

The dailymailonline reported they’ve set an aggressive timetable. They plan to launch on January 5, 2018 because that is the next time Mars will be closest, 75 million miles, to Earth. If they miss this window they will have to wait 15 years for the next one. “The planets realign every 15 years, and who wants to wait for 2033?” Tito said today at a press conference in Washington D.C.

Courtesy Google Images

The capsule that will send an intrepid couple on this nearly one and one half year trek will be small, just 600-cubic feet. Once these folks are launched toward Mars they’ll be on their own. If anything went wrong, there would be no rescue.

I think the people who are chosen for this endeavor will have to be really well adjusted as a I think the people who are chosen for this endeavor will have to be really well adjusted as a couple. They’d have to be to spend 501 days in a capsule with only each other as company. 501 straight days in a cramped capsule might strain the bonds of the strongest relationship.

When I read about this my first thought was that in 2018 my wife and I will meet the age requirement set forth by Inspiration Mars. I love my wife; we’ve been together for more than 26 years. I enjoy spending as much time as possible with her. If any couple could spend 501 continuous days in such a tiny space, I’m certain we could.

I think it would be cool to hop in a spaceship and travel millions and millions of miles through space. My wife – not so much. We fly a couple times a year but it still makes her a bit nervous. I can’t imagine trying to get her onto a craft that leaves the earth’s atmosphere.

What do you think – does anyone else share my desire to take an extraterrestrial vacation?

Stuck in Space

My delight with space isn’t a recent phenomenon connected solely with my employment in a space oriented business.  I’ve been enamored with space and space travel since I was a kid. 

Forty years ago, I did my 8^th grade year-long report on the history of the American space program.  I remember how jealous I was when a classmate wrote to the White House and received an invitation from President Nixon to attend the launch of Apollo 16.

I’ve made no secret of my distain for the United States’ lack of homegrown transportation to the International Space Station (ISS).  So, imagine my disgust when I saw it announced online that the Russian rocket Soyuz had another issue. 

Back in August 2011, an unmanned Russian Progress cargo craft using a Soyuz rocket, which was destined for the ISS, crashed.  It didn’t even reach orbit.  As result, we had to wait for a thorough investigation before we sent any U.S. astronauts to the station.

Now, there’s another issue.  The return capsule of the Soyuz craft failed a factory leak test; it cracked.  I’m not a rocket scientist, but even I know a crack in a spaceship is a bad thing.  This was supposed to be the vehicle that would bring the astronauts home from the ISS.  NASA says this latest setback won’t extend the current mission an inordinate amount of time, but our reliance on the Russians makes me ill.

I know American have had our share of space related problems; I get that.  But that’s not my issue.  I’m peeved that we don’t control our own destiny in regards to space travel.  The fact we don’t have our own transportation to the ISS, and won’t for a number of years is extremely shortsighted.  It’s an ongoing issue.  We’re losing our edge in space!

What do you think about this whole debacle?