Space Tourism: Adventures in Earth Orbit and Beyond

✍ Scribed by Michel van Pelt (auth.)

• Publisher: Copernicus
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 229
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Many scientific papers and popular articles have been written on the topic of space tourism, describing everything from expected market sizes to the rules of 3-dimensional microgravity football. But what would it actually feel like to be a tourist in space, to be hurled into orbit on top of a controlled explosion, to float around in a spacecraft, and to be able to look down on your hometown from above the atmosphere?

Space tourism is not science fiction anymore, Michel van Pelt tells us, but merely a logical step in the evolution of space flight. Space is about to be opened up to more and more people, and the drive behind this is one of the most powerful economic forces: tourism. Van Pelt describes what recreational space travel might look like, and explains the required space technology, the medical issues, astronaut training, and the possibilities of holidays to destinations far, far away.

This is a book for everyone who has ever dreamed of traveling to space: a dream which, according to van Pelt, may not be so far from becoming a reality.

✦ Table of Contents

Introduction....Pages 1-10
Before the Flight....Pages 11-13
Selection for Spaceflight....Pages 15-46
Getting Ready....Pages 47-68
Astronauts at School....Pages 69-81
Launch....Pages 83-90
The Sky is not the Limit....Pages 91-119
In Orbit....Pages 121-137
Space Stations: Giant Cans and Wheels in the Sky....Pages 139-163
The end of the Tour....Pages 165-169
Returning from Space....Pages 171-180
To the Moon, Mars and Beyond....Pages 181-199
The Road Ahead....Pages 201-206

✦ Subjects

Popular Science in Astronomy;Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology