MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Federal Space Agency is considering a possibility of sub-orbital tourism in own spacecraft, Vyacheslav Davidenko, the agency's press service chief, told Interfax-Military News Agency Friday.
"The agency has not signed any contracts on this so far, but the initiative is being analyzed," he said.
A sub-orbital spacecraft will enter space for 3-5 minutes for the crew and passengers to feel zero-gravity, and them will descend and land. Such spacecraft reaches the so-called low orbits at an altitude of 100 kilometers above the ground (for reference, the International Space Station orbits the Earth at 350-400 km).
According to Davidenko, such a tour is impossible in Russia because Russia still does not have spacecraft capable.
Federal Space Agency head Anatoly Perminov said earlier that he is all for the initiative.
"I agree that limitations in this field will give nothing, so I sign in," he said. He added that the agency has received offers from certain companies to develop sub-orbital tourism project. "We are considering them now," he said.
According to earlier reports, some Russian firms are developing sub-orbital spacecraft. For instance, Myasishchev's project is named S-21. The aircraft will take passengers to altitudes about 100 km. According to competent sources, the first such spacecraft will be made in Russia three or five years from now, and merely 10 years later sub-orbital flights will cost only about $80,000.
The first successful sub-orbital flight was made in the U.S. in October 2004 by a private Space Ship One with one pilot aboard.
The spacecraft was launched in the framework of the seven-country competition organized by X-prize foundation that promised to pay $10 million to those who would launch a spacecraft with a pilot aboard. A total of 25 private teams entered competition, but only U.S. citizen Bart Rutan won the first privately built spacecraft prize.
According to experts, there are now thousands of people only in America, who are willing to pay $100,000-200,000 for a sub-orbital flight.
Unlike orbital flights, which are very expensive and needs good and long preparation, sub-orbital flights are much cheaper and need no special training, specialists say.