The Surf Report: March 2002

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Odyssey, March 2002. Editor: Kris Cerone

The Surf Report by Diane Rhodes

So You Want to Be An Astronaut?

Most of the members of the spacer community have come to realize that they will never personally get into space, at least while they're young enough to enjoy it. Dennis Tito took another route and proved it can be done in this day and age -- if you happen to have the odd $20 million lying about.

Mercury astronauts during survial training

Mercury astronauts during survival training. NASA

NASA fought the inclusion of Mr. Tito, as the first space "tourist", into the crew of the International Space Station. Their position that he would require attention and monitoring by the crew to avoid disaster didn't hold up to close scrutiny; in fact, NASA itself was criticized for it's churlish attitude. After it was a done deal and the tourist had gone home, NASA went about the arduous task of appearing to welcome such lucrative visits by guests of the Russians, our major partner in the ISS, without actually relenting on their position that it was a bad idea.

As a result, they have come up with a document which outlines the "fitness requirements" of such potential tourists. Think you measure up? You can read the criteria here: http://www.nasa.gov/hqpao/isscrewcriteria.pdf.

Since Mr. Tito's trip, several other well-heeled individuals have expressed extreme interest in following in his boot-prints: South African Internet guru Mark Shuttleworth and Lance Bass of the boy-band N'Snc. Shuttleworth is slated to fly on the Soyuz taxi ship flight in April of this year. You can read more about these tourists at: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/lance_iss_020220.html.

There is currently another name, familiar to National Space Society folk, who is also angling for a ride: Lori Garver, once an Executive Director of NSS, and more recently, NASA Associate Administrator for Policy and Plans under Dan Goldin. She now consults for DFI International. She is not, however, one of the wealthy. Her ticket price will likely be raised by a mixture of private and corporate funding arrangements. You can read about it here: http://space.com/missionlaunches/soyuz_garver_020306.html.

Competition is now getting fierce for the "empty" seats (one each per taxi flight) on the Soyuz. Maybe there's hope for us yet. Hey, it could happen!