How to fly into space

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The cosmos is not that far away. It is only an hour away if your car is capable of going straight up.

These wonderful words belong to the British Fred Hoyle, one of the most famous cosmologists of the 20th century. Sir Hoyle is widely known as the author of several science fiction novels, as well as the popular term "Big Bang", which is used to describe the origin of our universe.

So how much to that very space? There is no single answer to this question in scientific circles. The atmosphere of the Earth is gradually discharged with distance from its surface, so the boundary is very arbitrary. For example, the International Aeronautical Federation set the bar at 100 km, and NASA - 122 km. Quite a bit, but the existing models of flying cars are still far from even the "maize", so getting to orbit will have to use old-fashioned methods - on spaceships. And here several flight options emerge, with varying degrees of investment and diligence. First, let us remind ourselves of the three well-known, and then learn about something completely unusual.

1. Become an astronaut

As they joke on the Internet, for the sake of two hours of freedom, Gagarin had to become an astronaut. Indeed, only select politicians, athletes, military men and representatives of rare professions could leave the USSR. Foreign trips only hindered the ordinary citizen from building his bright future. Half a century has passed, now everyone can choose where to go and where to settle down. Or even more - try yourself as a professional astronaut.

In 2012, Roskosmos opened a competition in which anyone could become an astronaut. Moreover, the requirements for physical training have been reduced in comparison with the previously existing standards. It is clear that, in addition to health, the applicant's broad outlook and past were assessed. But the doors were thrown open anyway! Flight experience and special education are no longer compulsory.

But there are difficulties. First, nothing has been heard about the next set. Secondly, even though they say that the road will be mastered by the one walking, but it takes too long. Education and training takes about six years. Probably, not everyone can do so much torment, and the competition is high.

2. Buy a ticket from a space tour operator

Do you want to amuse your vanity and admire how all of humanity is floundering somewhere at your feet? Be prepared to fork out. You need a couple of tens of millions of dollars for a ticket to an orbital station, where you can admire the blue planet through your stellar pedicure.

In the early nineties of the last century, the guests were received by a not very comfortable "hostel" called "Mir". After his drowning, travelers are invited to the "three-star" ISS. As usual, you will have to pay extra for increased comfort. The price of the issue has grown from 20 to 30 million dollars, and another 15 million is being asked for spacewalk. In general, with this merciless course, you most likely will not scrape together.

There are also more budget options. For example, the notorious Virgin Galactic company sells short space tours in advance for only $ 250,000. From 2.5 hours of flight, you will spend 5-6 minutes in zero gravity. Already more real, but still far from budget, and even when all this will be!

By the way, the first commercial space tourists were a Japanese journalist and a British pastry chef. Their flight was paid for by non-state financial institutions. Whatever one may say, the guys were lucky. However, not only they had a rare chance to visit interplanetary space for free.

3. Participate in the Mars One program

Surely all this hype about the colonization of Mars by 2030 has not passed on your ears. A private project to send ordinary earthlings to a neighboring planet literally blew up the media. Even if you don't watch TV, surf the Internet and listen to the radio, you still heard about this high-profile experiment from your friends and family.

The Mars One and Interplanetary Media Group has planned to send living blocks, the necessary equipment and a supply of food to Mars for four brave souls ready to start a new era in the life of the Universe. According to the idea of the inspirers, after a while the "Martians" should abandon the social package and switch to independent life support. They have to huddle the beds and grow grass on them.

By the way, about the weed. Many people thought that the idea for the whole event came to the organizers in the coffee shop (the roots of the project go back to the Netherlands). How to do this without having either the money or the technical capability? You will definitely not go far here on sheer enthusiasm, therefore, exposing articles appear on the Internet that the idea will burn out. Most likely, it will be so unless enthusiastic investors show up out of nowhere.

4. Send a piece of yourself into space

So we got to the point for which this material was started. Recently, I was pointed to one extremely unusual space service, which I would like to introduce you to.

“We were born from the stars, we will return to the stars” - it is under this slogan that the company sends cremated human remains outside the Earth.

And here, the advocates of traditional religious burials, apparently, will boil, and atheists will have a persistent feeling of misunderstanding. I myself was discouraged. However, if you cool down your ardor, it will become clear that a specific service was not conceived for everyone. You need to rave about space in order to die with the thought of how your ashes will overcome the earth's orbit.

Such is the peculiarity of the starry sky: everyone who looks at it has a sweet heart ache. Perhaps we really come from somewhere there?

Boris Akunin

Celestis puts 1 to 7 g of ash in a small, personalized capsule. Several capsules are packed into a common container and sent into space.

Depending on the fare, the remains can fly in orbit and return to Earth, reach the Moon, or go into the depths of space.

varies greatly: from $ 1,295 to $ 12,500. As a bonus, you will be given a pre-flight farewell recording and a Galaxy Conqueror Certificate.

The company has several successfully completed orders. Sending to low-earth orbit takes place regularly, but the first long-distance flights are planned only for 2017. There is still room.

Conclusion

Let's take an objective look at the state of affairs. An unrealistically rare chance to hit the road into space for free as part of any research program is practically excluded. The flight for their hard-earned money is astronomically expensive. There remains an alternative option with Celestis. Tragic? Not really, if you keep in mind the fatal attempt by the first space tourist in 1986, or the recent accident of a private carrier. The coldness of the universe will always be associated with the coldness of death.

Maybe it's not worth striving for space at all? This is how it is for the majority. For the rare enthusiast, it's different. What drives Celestis customers to their dreams? Alternatively, they think that God will stumble upon the capsule and remember the world he abandoned, and the aliens will learn about our existence. What do you think?