Space Tourism at the University of Waterloo

The following article was created by three grade 11 students participating in the University of Waterloo’s Unlimited program, where students spend a week learning about interdisciplinary research areas such as science journalism (the session I taught), textile history, nanotechnology, and more.

“Space isn’t a program, it’s a place.”

Until now, space has been a government program, believes Michael Belfiore, author of the “The Rocketeers”. But, now we are in the midst of a revolution that could allow the everyday citizen into space.

Instead of just going to Hawaii or other exotic places, those willing to spend great amounts of money will soon find a new vacation destination in outer space. Within the next decade, private space flights will enable eager space enthusiasts to live their dream and experience the life of an astronaut.

Currently, the projected cost of the first privatized space flight will be $200,000, but it is expected to decrease rapidly in the near future. And, for a few million dollars you can spend weeks in an outer space hotel. You will enjoy many of the same comforts of an earth-based hotel, like food, water and air.

The preparation before departure is minimal, but important. It consists of two to three days of training to acclimatize you to space life. This would allow you to fully enjoy your stay in space without having to waste time getting used to zero gravity. You will also have to undergo a medical exam to make sure underlying issues do not arise on the trip.

Everyone’s childhood dream of living amongst the stars could become a reality. The final frontier is a little closer.

By Stacey, Peter, and Joel.

You can find another article created by four other students in the science journalism session at Michael Belfiore’s Blog “Dispatches from the Final Frontier.”

PI in the Sky

Ever since I watched Pathfinder land on the rust-colored surface of Mars back in 1997, I have been captivated by space, astronomy, and in fact all science.  But, space exploration has always held a soft spot in my heart.

I love the idea of traveling to other worlds, whether through robots or with actual humans.  These days, it seem, the robots are winning. But, during a lecture Wednesday night at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics I learned that private space flight tourists could be the dark horse that change the whole race.

Michael Belfiore, a New York based writer for Popular Science and Wired, gave a talk based on his book “The Rocketeers: How a Visionary Band of Business Leaders, Engineers, and Pilots is Boldly Privatizing Space” and blog “Dispatches from the Final Frontier.”  It’s a great book (I read half of it before his talk, and I am just finishing it up now).

The best part about his talk and the book is the look into the lives of the people daring to do what many felt was impossible:  build a spacecraft in your garage. Remarkably, I think that do it yourself attitude is true to science’s roots, and epitomizes many of the greatest leaps forward in human knowledge (Einstein working in a patent office anyone?).

However, the most exciting aspect (besides the obvious HOLY COW I MIGHT GET TO FLY IN SPACE SOON!!!) was that the winning of the X Prize might be a Kuhnian revolution in scientific thought.   Our entire paradigm of space exploration has been overthrown by these guys with spare time, some nitrous oxide, and a few million bucks.  Kudos to them.