Research Article: Tourism

It is highly likely that the general public will be traveling, touring, and living in space at some time in the twenty-first century. If history is to be followed, the human expansion into space, on a large scale, is a foreseeable prospect for humankind. One possible scenario begins with 30-minute sub-orbital flights by the year 2005, followed by orbital flights of two to three revolutions (three to four-and-a-half hours) by about 2010. Surveys have shown that people would like to have a specific destination in space. That desire suggests a destination such as a resort hotel that can provide several days of accommodation in low Earth orbit, and a hotel like this may be available in about 2020. Beyond that, space hotels could be followed by orbiting sports stadiums and lunar cruises with excursions to the Moon's surface by 2040. After suborbital rides become commonplace, a new aeroballistic cargo and human...
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