That's the momentous day when we can offer our beloved readers a completely new tourist destination .Close - only 100 km and unlimited, visa-free, but with strict customs rules, attractive and absolutely free of attraction .You can see it simply by going to the window, and to go on a trip - from a single point of our planet .Tours are offered only a couple of times a year and only for 10 days, and preparation for the trip will last no less than 6 months .Placement on the spot - almost in the closet, while leaving to sleep will have to command "pull the curtains! ».Night life is completely absent, but during the day you can meet sunrise 16 times .There really exists a utopian ideal society: nothing can be bought and sold, from each according to ability, to each according to the needs of .Moreover, the local population consists of only six people .In addition, this is the most exclusive exclusive: to date, there were only seven tourists, the cost of the same ticket starts from 20,000,000 (twenty million) USD .In general, we will not torture you with uncertainty any more - Welcome to space!

Where is the space

Cosmos is the only country that can be seen from anywhere in the world, simply raising one's head and looking at the heavenly sky..Strictly speaking, the bottomless blue dome above our crown is nothing else than the atmosphere of the Earth, and already beyond it begins Absolute Nothing (or Absolute Everything as you like) .Because of the refraction of the sun's rays in it, the natural color of the Cosmos - black - turns into a beautiful azure of a sunny day or a gentle gray veil of pre-dawn dusk .True all-absorbing blackness is only revealed when leaving the inner layers of the earth's atmosphere - and at the moment it was seen by no more than 500 people out of 7 billion living on the planet .It happens gradually: as if an invisible artist was rinsing watercolor brushes in a transparent bowl - first stained in blue paint, then in blue, then in dense purple and finally in black .

The boundary of the cosmos is considered to be a conditional height of 100 km above sea level, scientifically called the Karman line. This, if I may say so, is no longer a homeland, but also not a stranger: it is at this altitude one of our favorite natural attractions is born - the northern lights, and the outer part of the earth's atmosphere extends tens of thousands of kilometers upwards. The achievement of a one hundred kilometer mark by the aircraft is the main criterion by which flight is defined as a space flight.

How to get to the space

A workhorse that delivers space tourists to their destination is the Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz paired with the same carrier rocket. To date, they have committed more than one hundred successful flights. The transfer is carried out "to the threshold of the hotel" - that is, the "Union" with a tourist on board docks directly to his place of residence for the next 10 days (the usual duration of the cosmos) - the International Space Station.

The transfer as a whole can not be called supercomfortable, but everything necessary for a safe and acceptable journey for the human body aboard the Union is available .The length of the ship is just over 7 m, the width is about 3 m when transported by a carrier rocket and almost 11 m with deployed solar batteries (with independent movement and docked to the ISS) ."Soyuz" consists of three compartments: an instrument, a descent vehicle and a household device - $ .Cosmoturists, like cosmonauts, are located in the middle module, descended .The cubature of its residential volume is 3, 5 m, in which three people are easily located - literally dexterity of hands and no fraud! In the descent capsule, space travelers will then return to Earth .Another important place for the tourist - the toilet - is located in the domestic compartment, except for this stuffed with life support systems and rapprochement .There is also a docking hub and a hatch through which the cosmotourist passes from the "bus" to the "hotel" .

Suborbital flights are planned to be carried out on specially designed spacecraft for this invention - they will not reach the ISS with all their will, but to overcome the boundary of the Cosmos, to get in the air for 5-6 minutes in zero gravity and can safely return to Earth .Virgin Galactic will use SpaceShip spacecraft paired with WhiteKnight acceleration airplane .Six space tourists will be accommodated on ergonomic multi-functional armchairs in the cabin of the space ship, except for them two crew members will be on the ship .The interior space of the space ship in diameter is slightly larger than the cabin of a familiar airplane - so that there is no traffic in zero gravity .The road from the Earth to the line of Karman will take about an hour, and the space journey as a whole - 2, 5 hours .

Space Adventures is going to send tourists to suborbital flights on an undocked module and a rocket carrier Armadillo. The principle of flight is identical to the delivery to the ISS by the "Unions", the difference is that the module with the space tourists will only reach the boundary of the Cosmos, after which it will return to Earth. The salon is designed for two travelers. The flight will be autonomous, controlled from the Earth, from the Flight Control Center. In total, the immersion in space will last approximately 1 hour.

Map of the Solar System

Earth in the window

Northern Lights

Visa to space

Tourists do not need a visa for visiting the world..Overcome earth's gravity without unnecessary bureaucratic delay can any resident of the planet Earth, regardless of citizenship .Meanwhile, the start of space travel is made from the territory not yet boggled by the bureaucracy of the states of the Earth - therefore, to arrive at the "breakpoint" it is necessary to obtain a visa of the corresponding country .For today, space tourists go "to plow the expanses of the Bolshoi Theater" only from the territory of the Russian Federation (the Baikonur cosmodrome is actually located in Kazakhstan, but until 2050 it is in Russia's jurisdiction) - therefore, those wishing to start on the currently running Space Adventures program will need a visa in Russia .

Those who are planning to go to the space Odyssey in the near future, using the service of Virgin Galactic, will need a visa in the US - launches will be made from the spaceport in the state of New Mexico.

Customs

Compared with the "customs rules" for space tourists, even personal inspection of suspicious personalities at the Tel Aviv airport will seem like a babbling .In space, you can not import almost anything: food, cosmetics, appliances and electronics, biological materials, clothing and footwear - all this will certainly be selected before sending to Gagarin start .Nevertheless, to take on a trip into orbit favorite petticoats in a flower and other "nostalgic goods" - a book, a photograph or, like Guy Laliberte, a clown's nose - is quite real: the object must be submitted to the special commission that will issue an opinion on its safety and will send for processing to the state of complete sterility .

Rules for suborbital travelers have not yet been announced. Apparently, they will be even more liberal: a short flight, everything is provided by a "tour operator", and even the most sentimental space tourist can spend a couple of hours without an adorable plush dog.

Where to stay

The International Space Station is "all in one" for space tourists: a hotel, a restaurant, and a tourist attraction. 15 countries of the world participate in the ISS program, some of them have their own separate modules within the station. Space tourists are populated on the Russian segment of the ISS - and this is not the case when a hotel on overbooking can be replaced by another one. Perhaps, the flight to the Cosmos is the only tourist trip, in which a 200% pre-determined "number" is guaranteed to a resting person.

Structural center of the Russian segment of the station - module "Zvezda" .It is in its not too spacious rooms space tourist and will spend ten unforgettable days .The internal volume of the crew (and these are two professional cosmonauts and one tourist) - 46 cubic meters .There are all the necessary life support systems for a person at the station, power installation, individual cabins (single room accommodation, by the way, although the hotel room is more like a shallow closet), a fitness room (!), A kitchen and a dining room, two in one ", As well as a toilet - the truth, a single .Of the pluses - the absence of cockroaches, mosquitoes, mice and other spoiling mood on resting animals, as well as a preliminary acquaintance and almost half a year of communication in the Star City with future "cellmates" on the hotel .

About where in the near future space tourists can be accommodated, read on our page Cosmos Hotels.

Security of space tourists

Space is a zone of high risk: an extremely rarefied atmosphere outside the spacecraft, huge temperature changes, small maneuverability of the ISS in the environment of cosmic speeds, psychological pressure of enclosed space - all this can turn an insignificant incident into a life-threatening catastrophe. That is why all materials and equipment on the ISS have a multiple safety margin, and absolutely for any freelance situation on board there is a clear action plan.

It would be a mistake to think that participation in the program of space tourism depends solely on the possibility to lay out more than an impressive amount for the opportunity to contemplate a native planet from space..Candidates for cosmo-travelers are carefully selected for physical data and psychological stability, are trained in the flight preparation program, undergo training for weightlessness and survival - in a word, they almost completely fulfill the compulsory program for a professional cosmonaut .Preparation for the expedition takes from 6 to 9 months .And despite this, the decision to admit to the flight is taken just before the start, after a thorough medical examination of .

In addition to the fact that all systems of the human body in space operate in an altered mode, astronauts are exposed to significant radiation: the daily irradiation dose in the orbit is equal to the average annual on the Earth. Another danger is a significant weakening of immunity. But the biological aging on the ISS is slower than on our planet.

What to do in Space? $

The issue of movement through the expanses of the Universe within the framework of space tourism programs is rather rhetorical. Cosmoturists do not leave the ISS limits (except for the planned possibility of going into outer space), moving inside it due to the absence of gravity in an exceptional way - "on their four."

"Suborbital" are also all the time traveling inside the spaceship; their flight is rather a long transfer, rather than the standard formula "flight-transfer-land".

In the future, if the declared Space Adventures tourist lobe of the Moon and, it is possible, landing a person on the lunar surface, it will be possible to talk about the first method of movement in the Cosmos - on foot. To leave, however, it will not be far, but to make a modest promenade on the lunar soil would be on the shoulder even for a tourist with a low level of physical training - because of the small force of the lunar attraction.

The climate of space is

The temperature near the ISS, as on Earth, depends entirely on the sun's rays .If the space station is behind the planet, in its shadow, overboard is up to -150 ° C .In line of sight of the Sun, the thermometer can show a polar value of +150 ° C .Inside the International Space Station a comfortable temperature for cosmonauts is maintained + 23 .25 ° C .Rain and snow, of course, does not happen, and from "weather" phenomena can only be seen flying through the window of the moon fragments of satellites and other space debris .It happens not too often (roughly, like a terrestrial rainbow), and the joy delivers only to the space tourists - the cosmonauts at this time are busy calculating the trash trajectory and, if necessary, run a program of evading debris .As recalled by astronaut A .Skvortsov, "one day it took more than a week to escape from the Chinese satellite" .

Other important components of the weather forecast from Kosmos are geomagnetic and solar activity that affect the cosmonauts' well-being and instrument performance.

Souvenirs from space

Any material attribute of cosmic life will become a wonderful souvenir-reminder of the stellar Odyssey. The space tourists who visited the orbit took away the packages of cosmic food - "stew" on special order, microbugs of bread, pies in bags, hygiene items, "orbital" T-shirts and other clothes, as well as spent resources and replaced with new parts of the ISS. In addition, few of those living on the planet can boast of photos of a loved one on the background of the Earth or a ship that joins the station.

How to eat well in space?

Michelin restaurants in Kosmos for obvious reasons, but what the Star City's special enterprise offers is quite edible, varied and even tasty..One of the main requirements for space food - food safety: no perishable components and plant ingredients, such as chopped parsley .In conditions of high radiation, magnetic fields and all extraterrestrial oddities, the parsley mutates and breakfasts for a valuable space tourist - exactly as in the well-known cartoon: "watering with soup can not be watered with water" .Among other things, food intended for astronauts is 100% natural and guaranteed to contain nitrates and ubiquitous GMOs .Most products come to the orbit in a sublimated form, completely dehydrated, so the formula "just add water" is relevant not only for the dimensionless fast-food noodles .But from the stereotyped tubes have already moved away: there are canned food, and blisters, and vacuum packs .Bread on the ISS is delivered by a special beskroshevoy .Loaves are enough for one bite .According to the variety of dishes, the cosmic diet is almost the same as the earth - the same first-second-third: snacks, soups, hot dishes with garnish, cereals, tea-coffee-milk-juices, desserts and dried fruits .Going towards the whims of wealthy cosmo-tourists, Roskosmos allows you to take into orbit some earthly delicacies (after all, money was paid), of course, after special processing .It is said, however, that Laliberte's favorite cheese was not missed - it was already painful, so to say, biologically active .

Entertainment, excursions and attractions of the cosmos

Flight as a tourist attraction

Impressions from the flight into space - the main reason why many are willing to part with a round sum and undergo a serious, sometimes unbearable physical training .The first sensations from the sight of the Earth, hovering in the starry blackness, and astronauts, and space tourists unanimously describe as ecstasy, euphoria .Whether a two-hour suborbital flight or a multi-day trip to the International Space Station, every minute lived in space will be filled with a mass of unique impressions - visual, tactile, sound .Being in space, you can not only look around the entire planet, but also watch the sun rise, when the bend of the globe slowly flares up with a blue haze, then suddenly blaze in the shining of the appeared star .And what is the view of the whole ISS complex, especially white on the black background of the universe?.Add to this the opportunity to see volcanic eruptions and sandstorms of the Sahara, to see the powerful optics of Palm Jumeirah or to guess the "foot" of Madagascar among the vast ocean, to photograph the night Moscow or to notice a tiny point on the horizon - the Progress space vehicle that started a couple of days ago with Earth and in a few hours will dock with the station .

Weightlessness

Cosmos is also an opportunity to experience one of the most amazing bodily sensations - weightlessness .The absence of gravity is the ability to make any acrobatic figures without risk of breaking up, fly off to the opposite corner of the "room", only slightly pushing away the little finger from the wall, and hang the desired object on the air in front of you..Even such a trivial occupation as washing in orbit becomes a unique experience: water does not flow off the body, but is smeared on its surface like a gel .Even sleep here lie down, pre-fastened - not to go into an involuntary flight through the station, having stirred in a dream .

Exit to free space

The declared, but not yet implemented "additional land" in space travel - a spacewalk .To pass dear Alexey Leonov theoretically any space tourist can .Of course, the preparation for the flight in this case will take more time - in fact the space traveler will need to perfectly understand the rules of travel in outer space, to learn how to handle the spacesuit perfectly and to work out the actions in emergency situations..But unforgettable impressions are guaranteed to be added: outside the ISS there is absolute absolute harmless silence, and between man and the universe - only the thickness of the suit is .Impressions are estimated at an additional 15 million USD .

Moon mission

Moon Flight is another announced project within commercial flights to space .After an intermediate landing on the International Space Station, tourists are invited to fly around in a special modernized ship around the companion of the Earth, with their own eyes to see its mysterious dark side, then return to their home planet .Directly autonomous flight to the Moon and back will be about 5 days .The date of the first mission is not yet announced, as is the cost of travel .It is assumed that the flight to the moon can take place already in 2015 and will cost at least 100 million USD . Photo of the Cosmos (41)

Author - Alexandra Azarova.