Virgin Galactic Space Port

Syndication by NatWest Magazine. Since 12 April 1961, when Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to leave the Earth's atmosphere in a spacecraft, 524 people have followed him up into the great dark. But in the next 10 years, that figure is on course to skyrocket. The majority of new astronauts, however, won't be created by a Nasa project, the Russian Federal Space Agency or any other governmental superpower.

Private companies, and the holiday funds of multi-millionaires, are expected to fuel the new commercial space age. So far there have only been seven space tourists, all of whom have gone into orbit courtesy of Space Adventures. The American company has brokered deals between private citizens and such organisations as the Russian Federal Space Agency, charging between 20 million and 35 million for return trips aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and stays on the International Space Station. The new wave of space passengers, however, will experience a lower type of altitude: suborbital space flight. They will be propelled skywards just beyond the K'arm'an line, 62 miles above sea level on a trajectory that arcs briefly into space before returning to the launch site without completing an orbit. There is no real dividing line between space and the atmosphere - rather, the atmosphere becomes gradually thinner - but most people, including the F'ed'eration A'eronautique Internationale, agree the K'arm'an line marks the start of outer space.

These flights might not reach the altitude of the International Space Station (orbiting at about 236 miles above sea level), but passengers will experience weightlessness, see the curvature of the Earth and get a view that stretches out over 1,000 miles of the planet's surface.

ArtWorks! For commissions, syndications, or to be added to our mailing list please contact kennbmondo@gmail.com