Holiday in Outer Space

The rooms are cramped to the point of extreme discomfort, the food isn't fresh, you can't choose your roommate, if you step outside you'll find the environment downright hostile and it's the most expensive holiday you can dream of... it's a holiday in outer space. With the world's second ever space tourist - 28 year old South African technology millionaire Mark Shuttleworth - entering orbit last month, it's already clear that the next great space race will not be driven by a grab for technological supremacy or even national pride, but by the strength of the almighty tourist dollar.

Shuttleworth has just become the second civilian to reach orbit and like the first ever 'space tourist' - Californian millionaire Denis Tito who spent time in space as a paying customer in mid 2001 - Shuttleworth will journey to the International Space Station on board a Russian Soyuz craft, and like Tito, the adventure will come with a hefty price tag of around US$20 million.

The difference with Shuttleworth's trip is that, unlike Tito, whose role was to simply "sit and watch", Shuttleworth will participate as a trained crew member.

He will be responsible for communications and life support systems and conduct experiments including monitoring embryos and stem cells in weightless conditions and monitoring his own heart rate, blood pressure and energy expenditure in space.

The experiments will take place in the relative luxury of the International Space Station, with perhaps the real challenge being the two-day shuttle ride in the Soyuz rocket where the technology at hand may be a little more primitive than the e-commerce security specialist - who made his fortune from encryption business Thawte Consulting - is used to.

The Soyuz craft was developed in the late 60's - that's before computers - and Shuttleworth, along with his two Russian counterparts, will make the trip lying on his back with knees pressed against his chin operating the buttons on the console panel with a pointer - all within an area not much bigger than the average office desk.

The initial drive towards space tourism has come via the cash strapped Russian Space Agency, with NASA displaying some well-publicised differences of opinion when Tito visited the ISS.

However the company who facilitated the journeys of both Tito and Shuttleworth - Virginia based Space Adventures - has much broader plans for the space tourism sector with a range of space-related tourist experiences in planning and currently available.

If you have a quiet 20 million to spare opportunity to follow Shuttleworth's into orbit is still open, but the real space tourism boom will begin when aircraft built specifically for the purpose take to the skies as early as next year.

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