Space Adventures helped secured seats on Soyuz taxi flights to the ISS for two private citizens through their long-standing partnership with Rosaviakosmos.
Dennis Tito: Space Adventures’ first orbital spaceflight client and the world’s first private space explorer that launched to the ISS in 2001. American businessman Dennis Tito received comprehensive training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. His participation in Space Adventures’ other programs, including zero gravity flights, centrifuge training and supersonic jet flights to the edge of space is what ultimately inspired him to take the final step. “When I reached 2.5 times the speed of sound and saw the curvature of the Earth below and the dark sky above, I knew I wanted to keep on going,” said Tito after completing his flight in a MiG-25, the world’s fastest operational combat aircraft.
Mark Shuttleworth: The first African to fly in space. Shuttleworth and his two crewmates, Russian commander Yuri Gidzenko and Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori spent 10 days in space. They took off on a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on April 25, 2002. Prior to his flight, Shuttleworth completed Space Adventures’ Orbital Pre-Qualification Program and underwent almost eight months of training and medical exams, including a one-week orientation program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Zero gravity, centrifuge training and spacecraft communication, guidance and control system lessons of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and ISS were also required. “Space Adventures has been invaluable in supporting me on this long journey towards the realization of my dreams of spaceflight. This flight is a personal challenge and adventure, and it’s an opportunity to encourage students in South Africa to embrace mathematics, science and technology,” said Shuttleworth.
Space Adventures vision stretches far beyond space tourism. Our goal is to benefit not only the private citizens who fly to space but also international space activities as a whole. Reusable launch vehicle technology initially developed for space tourism will spawn a new generation of space transportation vehicles for the next century. As profits from sub-orbital and orbital tourist flights are reinvested in new technology, we will achieve more reliable, affordable and safer access to space. This, in turn, will open the frontier for rapid inter-continental air transportation (anywhere on the globe in 45 minutes), improve satellite launches, facilitate the development of private orbiting space stations and overall, positively impact the global economy. The sky is no longer the limit.
