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Space

Third Space Tourist is Set 170

Posted by michael from the can't-take-it-with-you dept.
Sgt York writes "Space Adventures announced yesterday that Gregory Olsen will be their next private space tourism client. He paid $20M to hop on a Soyuz, sometime by 2005, and go spend some time on the ISS. The cool thing is, he's not just playing tourist. He's the CEO of Sensors Unlimited, has a MS in physics, and a PhD in materials science. He's planning on using the trip to 'help inspire today's youth to dream big' and conduct a few experiments, including testing out some of his company's equipment. SA is billing him as his own 'private space program.'" There's also a space.com story.
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Third Space Tourist is Set More

Third Space Tourist is Set

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  • Well, at least he's not... (Score:4, Funny)

    by jdray ( 645332 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:19PM (#8717294) Homepage Journal
    At least he's not part of a boy band.
    • Thank god that the boy band never made it into space.

      At least someone a Pepsi had an ounce of decency and spared the rest of us from this, the biggest marketing gimmick of all.
      • Oh, I thought sending a 77 year old into space was the biggest marketing gimmick for space.

        What was the reason for using my money to send him into space again-to study the effects of weightlessness and the elderly? That seems like a useful study at this point in our space program.

        Really, what's the difference between sending up a wannabe musician or a rich CEO (who would both pay for their trip) or sending up an elderly former astronaut/senator (at tax payers expense). Sending Glenn back into space was ju

        • Sure, it had marketing benefits. It also had scientific benefits, and not just those of studying the effects of weightlessness on the elderly.

          The more attention NASA can get, the more funding it's likely to retain. These days, anything that doesn't help put a polititian(and not just John Glenn) in positive light isn't safe from being axed in favor of pork barrel spending.

          And personally, I'm in favor of NASA retaining its funding.
          • The more attention NASA can get, the more funding it's likely to retain.

            How about take $20 Million endowments from rich people who want to tag along for the ride, and spare ourselves the humiliation of putting on dog-and-pony shows to keep up interest for the sake of public funding? Get enough clients like this, and NASA could actually operate in the black with no taxpayer funding at all!

            Government spending on space exploration was one thing, when Sputnik was beeping along overhead and scaring the bejeez

        • What was the reason for using my money to send him into space again-to study the effects of weightlessness and the elderly? That seems like a useful study at this point in our space program.

          Shoving John Glenn into orbit wasn't the only reason for that flight. They did a lot of studies on microgravity, you can see it in the press kit for that mission [shuttlepresskit.com]. You can bitch and moan about it, but it wasn't a bad mission. It worked on many levels, good science, good press, and a second flight for NASA's first ma

  • Tax Deduction (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mgs1000 ( 583340 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:21PM (#8717323) Journal
    conduct a few experiments, including testing out some of his company's equipment

    In other words, it'll be a tax deduction because it's a "business expense".

    • Re:Tax Deduction (Score:5, Funny)

      by WormholeFiend ( 674934 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:33PM (#8717489)
      And I bet he'll frame that page of his income tax return!

      I'd love to see the look on the face of the IRS clerk when s/he looks at that line.

      • Re:Tax Deduction (Score:3, Insightful)

        by re-Verse ( 121709 )
        I'd love to see the look on the face of the IRS clerk when s/he looks at that line.

        By my guess is that it will be competely bank. From my dealings with tax people, I've decided they aren't human... or at least humans capable of emotion.

    • Re:Tax Deduction (Score:5, Informative)

      by PIPBoy3000 ( 619296 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:35PM (#8717520)
      I'm sure you're right. Here's a recent blurb about them in the news. It looks like they do a fair bit of business with the Air Force, so NASA's practically sending one of their own.
      Sensors Unlimited, Inc. (Princeton, NJ), provider of short wave IR imaging products based on indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) technology, has received a follow-on, Phase 1b contract from the U.S. Air Force, for a twelve month, $2 million program to develop the industry's first high frame rate camera for combined imaging and ranging, using an in-pixel digitized, monolithic PIN/APD focal plane array. The Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency is providing the funding under a contract managed by the Air Force. Sensors Unlimited was the only vendor to address both imaging and ranging within a single focal plane array and camera. The company says that it will "significantly advance the state-of-the-art in infrared imaging."

  • Is this news? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by FortKnox ( 169099 )
    Hate to sound like a troll, but is this news? He's the third guy. The first was newsworthy, the second really wasn't, and this even less. The only noteworthy thing is the guy went from rags to riches, and now into space. He'll train, get on a rocket, go to the space station, stay the hell out of the way, return, write a book, make money on said book. The End.
    • The more the merrier though. In a theoretical capital market, if there are enough buyers, the producers will make more, enabling more people to buy, and maximizing profit. It's newsworthy in that it's another step closer to non-government sponsored space flight. Personal space travel will come eventually, but maybe market forces can accelerate the process.

    • Re:Is this news? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Urkki ( 668283 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:27PM (#8717424)
      Oh come on. It could also happen so that he'll train, get on a rocket, and get blown into fine red mist... Without this article, it wouldn't be possible to link back to this on the article telling about the accident. It may seem pointless now, but so do most precautionary things...

      • Re:Is this news? (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I find this post morbidly disturbing. Where can I sign up for your service?

      • Re:Is this news? (Score:4, Funny)

        by Otter ( 3800 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:37PM (#8717550) Journal
        Without this article, it wouldn't be possible to link back to this on the article telling about the accident. It may seem pointless now, but so do most precautionary things...

        Once again, the journalistic thoroughness of the editors shines through. The question is whether they'll link to this story or the dupe Taco will post tomorrow.


    • 1: Start from rags
      2: ???
      3: Go to riches
      4: Go to space
      5: Write book
      6: Profit!

    • Re:Is this news? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by nate1138 ( 325593 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:35PM (#8717519)
      It is also noteworth because he will be the first to carry his own significant research up with him. He's not going to just "stay the hell out of the way". This guy isn't some boy-band wannabe. He's a real scientist with real experiments he want to carry out.

    • This isn't news. The only Olson news anyone is really intested in is this [soulhuntre.com]
    • Not really, but it provides a way for news.google.com to pay Slashdot back for the three google-related articles on Slashdot yesterday.

    • Re:Is this news? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by bwy ( 726112 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @04:12PM (#8717973)
      The third time we went to the moon was boring too, eh? Seems like today once something has been done once it isn't worth paying attention to after. For some reason people watched how many years of Friends episodes though? 30 minutes of peoples lives, gone, every week for years.

      I, for one, live north of the Cape and watch every shuttle launch I possibly can. Most people don't any more. I guess it depends on your interests.

      • Re:Is this news? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by GTRacer ( 234395 ) <gtracer308&yahoo,com> on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @05:23PM (#8718743) Homepage Journal
        I was going to upmod you post, but I think I should reply instead. I agree COMPLETELY that space travel and the expansion of same should be newsworthy. But there's a difference between "Third Space Tourist" and the countdown to the final Friends ep:

        Interest in space travel (or in most scientific discovery) is dependent on the initial "Wow" factor or in thinking about how some advance is superior.

        That "wow" is generally finite, like a first impression. It may have been great a first, but the 30th time you meet $CELEBRITY, the reaction is different if it's not a personal contact. I've met many girls that were very attractive, exciting, etc., but since all but one are friends or acquaintances now, that "wow" isn't there any more. With my wife, there's much more to our relationship than the swoony feelings of a first date or kiss.

        Humor however, is not so dependent on this "wow". A given joke, yes, but consistently well-written funny is much longer-lasting. Ditto for other brain-candy entertainments.

        GTRacer
        - Would go up in a heartbeat!

    • Re:Is this news? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Short Circuit ( 52384 )
      Probably the biggest reason it's newsworthy is that the number of people who've done this is still in the single digits, and it has to do with science/technology.

      Now, maybe it shouldn't have been on the front page...

  • risky (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Chuck Bucket ( 142633 )
    I think it's still too risky. think about it, someone going up that's not an astro flowing around accidentally kicking some switch on a panel breaking something. I know it's prob not *that* unsecure, but still, the point is the ISS is supposed to be this great nation-free project, but the Russian's are trying to milk it for some rubles by gambling that this "tourist" won't break anything.

    call me pariod it you wish, but the stakes are too high for this.

    CVb

    • Re:risky (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Mistlefoot ( 636417 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:31PM (#8717475)
      This guys a scientist. Pretty good chance he's not going to be going around hitting switches or being any more careless than any astronaut.

      This guys also running his own successful business.

      Consider that every $20 million injection into space flight will help insure that there will be a 'next' space flight.
      • Think of it this way, he just payed 20 million to work for free in space. I think the russians really had the right idea when they started doing space tourism.

        "Cosmonauts are too expensive, how can we cut out their already small pay? Answer: Get americans to pay us to work for us. Call it a work for us tax."

    • Re:risky (Score:3, Insightful)

      by MalaclypseTheYounger ( 726934 )
      Simply put, Russia cannot afford to keep sending Soyuz up there time after time again. They don't have the riches the US apparently does. So they fund their flights anyway they can.

      Looking at the alternatives (neglecting ISS and letting it fall apart because we won't go up there with our crappy Space Shuttle anymore) I certainly have no problem with some jet-set millionaire travelling up there.

      Plus, I think 6 months of training will make sure they don't accidentally kick any switches marked "Self Destru

      • Re:risky (Score:2, Interesting)

        by ttsalo ( 126195 )
        Simply put, Russia cannot afford to keep sending Soyuz up there time after time again.

        I don't think that's a problem now that the shuttle is grounded and they have the only vehicle in the world capable of flying to ISS at all.

        And by the way, some have claimed that the whole ISS is just a way of keeping the russian rocket scientists working on peaceful projects in Russia, not on ICBMs in "rogue nations"...

        --

    • i think you are absolutely right. we should leave the ISS empty (3 'nauts instead of 5) on account of the US Government curtailing spending on it, and forcing other nations (like Japan) to be cut from sending up their 'nauts.

      Also, now that all of the Shuttles keep on blowing up, there really is no point to being in space.

      sounds very reasonable.

      I say: Russians, push the Americans until they can be pushed no more. Then maybe the Americans will spend more money on developing the ISS and new space programs

    • "I think it's still too risky. think about it, someone going up that's not an astro flowing around accidentally kicking some switch on a panel breaking something"...

      i don't know why my mental picture of that featured Homer Simpson...
    • He's going to do more actual research up there than NASA does. With the budget cuts, they are down to just enough crew to keep the lights on and don't really have time for much else. I'm not sure how lame (or not) his experiment is, but it's probably a better use of the station than is going on right now. Even the president has said the ISS will be abandoned after the US "obligations" to the international community that built it have been met. Why not let a rich guy bang around up there, maybe it will crash

  • pfff... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:22PM (#8717344)

    Another "rock and roll" CEO. It's bad enough we have Richard Branson ballooning about as if he's a 20 year old.

  • Smart guy... (Score:4, Funny)

    by artemis67 ( 93453 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:22PM (#8717348)
    He's planning on using the trip to 'help inspire today's youth to dream big' and conduct a few experiments, including testing out some of his company's equipment.

    Business trip, be sure to keep the receipts. Oh, and he'll be entertaining a client for dinner when he gets to the space station, so his meal will be a write-off, too.

    Hmmm... how many cents per mile is it for a space commute?
  • Guy: hey, baby, what's up?

    Hot chick: get lost, loser, unless you got something interesting to say!

    Guy: I'm going into space next month, gonna cost me $20 mil. I might not come back alive. Look, here's the clipping from the New York Times with my photo. So, want to come for a ride in my Porsche? I got a little time left and a lot of money to burn... ....

    I reckon it'd be worth 2-3 months of one-nighters with exceedingly pretty but easily charmed women. In purely genetic terms, that $20m could be a pretty good investment.

  • Sensorsinc Making money from what! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Sensorsinc's title page says: 'How can a bottle manufacturer prevent glass shards in its drinking containers?' - This guy has a PHD and a company to use plastic bottles. Geees.
    • There are some companies out there that still want to use glass bottles, for the nostalgic look if nothing else - of the top of my head, I can think of Snapple, Nantucket Nectars, and Coca-Cola products in some parts of the world (I remember get a glass-bottle Sprite in Austria). Their business isn't actually a bad little niche at all...

  • One thing he should remember to pack: (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Well, this /. story [slashdot.org] makes it painfully obvious that you should always carry extra in case your luggage gets lost.

  • Space Tourism (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Dizzutch ( 578793 )
    I'm really not sure what I feel about this whole Space Tourism thing. I guess the space agencies are doing it as a source for some extra cash, but how much does profit do they actually make on these trips? I think for now space technology should be kept for scientific research only. There is still a lot that can go wrong, and even more that we don't know about.

    • Re:Space Tourism (Score:2, Interesting)

      by TigerNut ( 718742 )
      Getting in the news equals free airtime, which equals funding dollars from the government. The profit angle is bunk, because it would take several thousand tourists to recoup the billions of dollars pumped into the space program as a whole.

      At $20million a pop, the current crop (is three a crop?) of space tourists would have made a much bigger impact on the space industry by putting their money into John Carmack's, Rutan's, or one of the other X-prize ventures.

  • Sure it's a big adventure.. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:26PM (#8717406) Homepage Journal
    What could be more exciting than to go to the ISS, which has as many faults as the average Disney Theme Park. Space exploration really is becoming a farce. Too bad private industry can't seem to come up with the loot necessary to run a full-scale space program itself.

    Rockets by SpaceX and others are all well and good, but not even Bill Gates has the cash to fully fund a competent space program. Assume private enterprise could and did, would it be any better than what's happening these days?

    "Did you remember to close the door?" "Didn't need to, it fell off and drifted away."

    • Actually, the Roton design (of the now sadly ex Rotary Rocket company), should have come in cheap enough that Gates could have easily afforded it. Still, that program was fairly high risk. I think they were predicting about $200 million to complete the program.
  • I want to go to space before I DIE! I'll even work for McDonald's as long as its NOT on Earth. The dream of so many, and available for a small few. Is this what you get from Bush's last tax cuts?

  • Third Tourist Background Story (Score:4, Informative)

    by bcolflesh ( 710514 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:29PM (#8717444) Homepage
    He sounds like an interesting guy [miami.com] - not your typical privileged millionaire.

  • Profit? (Score:4, Funny)

    by somethinghollow ( 530478 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:30PM (#8717465) Homepage Journal
    I wonder how much it ACTUALLY costs to send one person into space? From what I understand, the tourists are just tag alongs. In other words, the ship is going anyway. How much extra can that one person cost? $20 Mil for another 150-250 lbs? Chipping in for gas has never been this expensive. Or maybe the people that make up the prices for movie theatre food make up the prices for in flight meals on a space ship.

    • Re:Profit? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by captain_craptacular ( 580116 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:43PM (#8717622)
      First of all, there is no such thing as extra space in a space launch. Every ounce of payload is examined and scrutinized in order to determine if it's worth the cost of launching it.
      Furthermore, we're talking about going to space here , not Fresno. I bet his support equipment alone weighs more than "150-250 lbs". He has to bring every single item he'll need to survive for a week. The water alone is probably more than 50 lbs, then there's food, oxygen, extra underwear, etc....

    • Re:Profit? (Score:3, Informative)

      by TheCrazyFinn ( 539383 )
      $10,000/lb or more for the shuttle, Soyuz is about half that, that's launch costs, not retail.

      The pity is that DC-X was looking to be sub-$1000/lb, possibly as low as $100/lb, which is around airline pricing.

      Then NASA cancelled it.
    • Don't forget the food, water, and oxygen he'll consume, and the CO2 and waste he'll generate. Oh, and the equipment, training, etc.

    • Re:Profit? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by WolfWithoutAClause ( 162946 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:58PM (#8717772) Homepage
      The Soyuz costs about $15-25 million to launch. Of course they charge a lot more than that- 60 million for the whole rocket IRC.

      So the tourists are paying most of the unit costs of the rocket- and the Russians get to send along 2 more astronauts (cosmonauts) as well.

      Yes, the Soyuz rocket really is that cost effective (the Russians use this amazingly hi-tech special technology called a 'production line' and the rocket is designed from the ground-up to be cheap/rugged- unlike in the West where it is designed to be 'high performance'.) It's a very different mindset.

      I remember one of the American astronauts was asking one of the technicians wearing an ordinary white coat, standing next to the rocket he was about to launch on about whether the nozzles can swivel. "Oh yes up to 30 degrees! Watch"- *wrench* (bonk- hit's the stops), *wrench* (bonk- hit the other stops). Astronaut starts sweating. (Apparently in the west they tend to go with a clean-room attitude to their rockets and treat everything gently like it is made of glass- the Russians are more pragmatic about something about to see the brutality of a launch environment.)

      And of course, on the day it worked perfectly.

      • Re:Profit? (Score:3, Funny)

        by igny ( 716218 )
        I read a story about how they played a joke on Americans. There was this hangar, full of old rockets, used booster stages, and such... Everything was going to be scrapped. There were a few technicians, drinking vodka, when they heard some people coming... (It appeared to be some visitors from West, accompanied by some russian guides.) Technicians immediately started 'working' using tools like sledgehammers, hitting and cutting some rocket.

        Some visitor asked (noticing vodka bottles), wtf are those guys doi

  • An Interesting Flight (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ChuckDivine ( 221595 ) * <charles.j.divine@gmail.com> on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:31PM (#8717468) Homepage

    This looks very interesting. He's the head of a real company that's still fairly small. Small companies, being much less bureaucratic, are friendlier environments for creative work and pioneering investigations.

    Olsen looks like a remarkably intelligent man with a good background in the kinds of science he will be exploring up on ISS. He's also led the development of products that the real world wants and needs.

    The space business needs more Olsens. Today there are entirely too many bureaucrats with no vision and no ability to connect with the larger world.

  • Will they be kicking themselves later? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by asdfasdfasdfasdf ( 211581 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:31PM (#8717474)
    I'm a Tivo fanatic, and I've got a Hidef "ready" TV, so, in my blood, I'm itching to get the new HiDef DirecTV Tivo when it comes out in the next few weeks. Trouble is, it's MSRP is going to be $999. It's just too rich for my blood. Under $500, I could manage, but $999 is just crazy. I expect this price to fall like a rock-- perhaps faster than any other Tivo unit has so far. DirecTV is getting ready to go on a major HD push, even launching a new satellite. This device has got to be part of it.

    I wonder if "Space Tourists" will look back to when the going price was $20 million and shudder. I hope so. I hope that visiting space will be an attainable expense within my lifetime.

    Surely, the first few are so rich that it doesn't really matter, and the "honor" of being one of the first will be worth the price.. but it's numbers 10-100 that I wonder about. Is it really going to seem worth that price, after the fact?
  • ...Lets Slashdot his company website out of existence.

    On another note does he realise that the ISS is falling apart?

  • Newsworthy (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Thanatopsis ( 29786 ) <despain.brian@ g m a il.com> on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:34PM (#8717500) Homepage
    This is a newsworthy story as the this guy is going to be one of the first to use ISS to test crystal growth (which should have a clear advantage in a ISS's microgravity setting), his company's infrared cameras. It really is a business expense for him. As opposed to the first space tourists which were just that tourists. He's testing ISS as the prototype for a space based manufacturing facility.
    • I find it ironic that one of the first actual instances of real science being done on the ISS is from a tourist. I've been checking in on the ISS science page and it's just depressing. According to the ISS folks, astronauts taking pictures out the windows and some Jr High kids firing a remotely operated camera pointed at the Earth is 'science'. To be fair, they've done a little bit of zero-G crystal growth but the state of science on that bucket of bolts is pathetic.

  • Jealously or reality (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:36PM (#8717530)
    I read a great article after the first guy went into space where the writer summed up the "sour grapes" reaction from so many who were disturbed that a rich guy could buy a trip to space - it was jealously.

    People were envious that one person could actually buy his way into space. Surely, space should be left to scientists, intellectuals, dreamers, etc. rather than a memeber of the "wealthy elite".

    The reality is when ship,car,train and airplane travel debuted, the passenger list comprised government-sanctioned types or the very wealthy.

    After a time, all forms of travel become accessible to more people from other walks of life and eventually become commonplace.

    I say good for this guy. May space become even more accessible to those willing to buy a ticket.

    • People were envious that one person could actually buy his way into space. Surely, space should be left to scientists, intellectuals, dreamers, etc. rather than a memeber of the "wealthy elite".

      No, not at all... People are pissed that our tax dollars are subsidizing millionaires' space vacations. The millions spent are only a fraction of the costs of sending an individual, and even if they were paying a billion dollars, don't think that Russia is going to divide it equally among the countries that have c

  • So ... the whole thing is tax deductible... (Score:3, Funny)

    by popo ( 107611 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:39PM (#8717560) Homepage
    The headline shouln't be that he's the "third space tourist", it should be that he's "the first space tourist to travel tax-free".

  • Nietzsche on loftiness (Score:5, Insightful)

    by agslashdot ( 574098 ) <sundararaman DOT ... AT gmail DOT com> on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:41PM (#8717588)
    Ken Thompson [bell-labs.com], one of the inventors of Unix, forked out $12,000 to fly on a Mig29 [bell-labs.com]

    Oracle playboy Larry Ellison is "multi-talented, not only is he an acute business but he is also a jet pilot, marketing genius, sports enthusiast and world champion yacht racer [americascup.co.nz]"

    Nietzsche once said people who aspire to lofty ideas ( like "help inspire today's youth to dream big" ) often have very simple, direct, greedy drives that propel them. A scientist might say he's out to prove the hardest theorem, but perhaps all he wants is fame ( eg. Dr. Watson says in his book on decoding DNA that he simply wanted to beat the competitors & become famous ). A philosopher might set out to "find the truth", but perhaps all he wants is tenure at some ivy league institution. Looks to me like Dr. Gregory Olsen simply wants good PR for his firm with this stunt...claiming to inspire American youth seems outlandish.

    • That thing on the picture is not a Mig-29. Google for it if you want to see how it looks like.
    • A previous poster mentioned an article that stated that he has has donated money to build a university building and a library. In naming the buildings, one was named after one of his teachers and the other after his mother.

      If his drive was for PR or personal fame, I doubt he would have neglected to place his name on those buildings.

      Then again, Nietzsche was still probably right. I just don't think that his motivation is what you think.

  • Kick in the teeth. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SomeOtherGuy ( 179082 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:41PM (#8717599) Journal
    Pretty sad when the Russian folks are able to send average Joe for a joy ride in space with a return journey...and we (here in the US) don't even have the ability to launch and return the pro's with the whole state of NASA these days. And we are looking to go back to the moon and Mars??

  • US Reaction more laid back... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by larsoncc ( 461660 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:43PM (#8717623) Homepage
    Did you notice that this time, the US reaction is more laid back? Perhaps the US will begin to take up tourists of their own (eventually).

    Frankly, it surprises me that the Russians are the first to realize the profit potential.

    So, here's a question... If the US and Russia started to compete for space travellers (and you had the money), which agency would you trust? Why?

    It seems one is gathering experience catering their programs to the rich folks, yet the other would have some "whiz bang" technology. Tough call, really.

    • Re:US Reaction more laid back... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by metlin ( 258108 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:58PM (#8717770) Journal
      I think I would go with Russia. If I'm not mistaken, they have a better record for safety than the US (I could be wrong).

      But more than anything, their equipments and technologies have often proved to be far more resilient and robust than the American counterparts.

      American would be more cooler and comfortable, am sure. But the Russian one would be robust and interesting ;-)
      • Please MOD PARENT DOWN. IDIOT AT WORK

        I think I would go with Russia. If I'm not mistaken, they have a better record for safety than the US (I could be wrong).

        You are mistaken.... Greatly and gravely mistaken. The US blunders are greatly publicized, debated, and investigated... The Russian deaths are quietly noted, swept off the pavement, and the next rocket is launched.

        But more than anything, their equipments and technologies have often proved to be far more resilient and robust than the American

      • But the Russian one would be robust and interesting

        But only for certain values of interesting...

    • You gotta go with the Russians on this - they havn't lost anyone in space for awhile. I think it's like 14 to 0 in last 20 years.

    • Re:US Reaction more laid back... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by WolfWithoutAClause ( 162946 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @04:13PM (#8717985) Homepage
      The records show that Soyuz is as safe as the Shuttle- about a 1.7% fatality rate per launched person. In fact, the latest manned version of the Soyuz has had NO fatalities whatsoever- they've had some injuries though. Even if you include the whole of the Soyuz program, then less astronauts have died per launched astronaut; but there's nothing much in it (it's not statistically significantly better than the Shuttle.)

      Ironically though, Soyuz has had more missions that failed (the early Soyuz's were known to be a bit iffy so they launched less astronauts on them; they've hopefully got the bugs out now- and so they launch an extra person.) One mission had a launch pad fire that meant that the cosmonauts had to use an escape system- note that the Shuttle doesn't have an escape system.

      So bizarrely, Soyuz is about as safe (or safer), but less reliable.

    • Why would NASA bother taking tourists into space? They're not russians. $20M buys only peanuts for NASA (literally).
    • Yeah lets fly with NASA... only cost you $800 million dollars and there is a 2% chance you die.
    • Frankly, it surprises me that the Russians are the first to realize the profit potential.

      There is no profit... it's just money being moved around.

      For the millions a person pays to go to ISS, several times as much tax-payer money has been spent on them. That's why this is a problem... We all spent the money in good faith that it would be used for scientific research, not to give some millionaire a place to go on vacation.

  • I was wondering why I got rejected (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Walkiry ( 698192 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @03:53PM (#8717722) Homepage
    Obviously someone beat me to the punch (the submit button punching that is). Anyway, I wonder if this could be an acceptable new trend, to ship scientists up that are not professional astronauts to conduct research (since, sadly, no one person, not even an astronaut, can be a top-noch scientinst in everything). As a non-astronaut scientist, my head is saying "hell yes!".
  • "The third space tourist - In search of the second" (Spaceballs anyone?)

  • Let's send Linus!!! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Marble68 ( 746305 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @04:01PM (#8717803) Homepage
    Let's all pitch in and send Linus.

    Suggested experiments:

    Installation of XP on one box, and Linux on another. Which OS os "lighter"?

    Evaluation of the safety ramifications of space travel while carrying either a stuffed penguin or a window made of stained glass. Does a towel help?

    Installation of dual OS's on all mission critical ISS servers.

    Upgrade of Hubble OS to Linux so it'll run on just one Gyro!

    Human sciences experiment where the subject must debug an OS kernel in weightlessness while under the influence of various hallucinogenics.

    If we can afford it, send strippers, a pole, and a DJ to study and facilitate the development of weightless lap dances.

  • Thirdspace? (Score:4, Funny)

    by IPFreely ( 47576 ) <mark@mwiley.org> on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @04:01PM (#8717812) Homepage Journal
    Am I the only one who saw that and thought Thirdspace [babylon5.com]. It sounds a little dangerous to me.

  • Thats great (Score:3, Funny)

    by thebra ( 707939 ) * on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @04:07PM (#8717885) Homepage Journal
    but where is my flying car!

  • let's see... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by MORTAR_COMBAT! ( 589963 )
    He wants to inspire kids to become astronauts. How nice.

    With his $20 Million USD, he could fund approximately 20,000 $1000 one-time scholarships.

    Let's say he uses the $20 Million USD to establish a trust, which uses earnings on the principal to fund science scholarship programs. Let's say this trust only earns 5% annually. That would be $1 Million USD annually, which could fund 1,000 $1,000 science scholarships annually.
    • Or 20,000 slashdotters could spend the money they currently spend on internet access, cable TV, DVD's, plasma screen TV's and other frivolous activities and fund the same number of scholorships.

      Why do you get toys but he cant? He works long, hard and smart, takes risks, and makes a profit. Instead of blowing $20 million on a fancy yacht he spends it on a holiday, but as a bonus he decides to do a little to help other people.

      How does you buying a dvd each week help little Tommy? 50 dvd's is a $1,000 schola
    • And you could be feeding a starving third-word kid with just forty-two cents a day. Are you? If you are, couldn't you afford another one?
    • You might have missed this link [msn.com], since it was in one of the comments. Quote of choice:

      He also gave $15 million to his alma mater, the University of Virginia and runs a family foundation with his daughter Krista. (For the last ten years, Olsen has also personally mentored a Trenton, N.J., student through the Big Brothers-Big Sisters program.)

      And besides, I see absolutely no reason why you have to crack on him like that about how he should be using that money in a "better way" according to you. Perhaps y

  • astronomical hotel rates (Score:3, Funny)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @05:15PM (#8718657) Homepage Journal
    How much is he paying me in ISS room rates, for my share of the project as a US taxpayer? We'd better at least stick it to him on the room service - I hope he's a big tipper.

  • $40 mil for zero-gee p0rn? (Score:4, Funny)

    by peter303 ( 12292 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @05:57PM (#8719150)
    Then a couple could publicly answer to what has long been rumored to have been secretly tested: what is a zero-gee sex like? What is a zero-gee orgasm like? Can you "do it" without pushing each other apart? Does cumming have a enough force to push a man backwards? Does zero-gee make it bigger? faster? more explosive? Do the hooters stop sagging and always point outwards? Does the Book of Tantra need several more chapters for zero-gee techniques?
    It boggles the mind! You could probably raise the $40 mil from curious subscribers alone.
  • ..I'd rather see them earn their $60 million by flying 300,000 passengers at $200 than 3 passengers at $20 million each.

    There's nothing in the current ISS infrastructure that will allow you or me to fly to orbit.
  • He's not the third, he's the fourth. They're forgetting this guy:

    http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/al-saud.html

    "Payload specialist", my ass. Just a coincidence that he was a Saudi prince, I guess. Everyone working at NASA at the time knew he bought himself a ticket.

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