Skydive promotes space travel?

Transport Posted on 19/10/2012

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The Red Bull sponsored skydive by Felix Baumgartner that was watched by a record eight million YouTube viewers could have reignited the passion for space travel.

After having seen a media frenzy over the prospect of space travel between 2002 and 2004, the press has recently paid relatively little attention to the subject.

However, this changed when Felix Baumgartner flung himself off his capsule from more than 24 miles high and subsequently hurtled towards Earth at over 800 mph.

As the Telegraph reports, Virgin Galactic has already taken 500 bookings for seats on future space trips, costing $200,000 per person. Whilst these bookings have mainly gone to celebrities and the super-rich, Virgin Galactic has predicted that the price of a ticket for a space flight will halve within the first year of running, making space travel slightly more accessible.

Virgin Galactic is not the only company to venture into space, with Xcor and Space Adventures also planning trips for the future. The latter has teamed up with the Russian space agency in the hope of sending seven passengers to the International Space Station on rockets alongside astronauts. A ticket on one of these trips will set you back around $20 million and requires a six month training course in Moscow.

Virgin Atlantic plans to run its first space flights in 2016, whilst Space Adventures claims its debut flight will launch in 2015.

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In brief : Transport