space: not just for astronauts

Jonathan Clark served 26 years of active duty with the U.S. Navy and qualified as a naval flight o cer, navy diver, U.S. Army parachutist and Special Forces military freefall parachutist. In addition to flying combat medical evacuation missions in Operation Desert Storm with the Marine Corps, Clark worked at NASA from 1997 to 2005 and was a Space Shuttle crew surgeon on six shuttle missions.

Although it might sound futuristic, there are multiple space-themed tourism options currently available. For example, you can experience the sensation of weightlessness in parabolic flight with Zero G Corp, which occasionally flies out of Central Florida.

“A group based in Jacksonville had proposed using an F-104 Starfighter aircraft to go to the stratosphere, and the Russians currently o er that in a MIG 25,” notes Clark.

“Several stratospheric balloon companies are close to carrying passengers to the stratosphere (near space), including World View Enterprises and Zero2Infinity. Suborbital flight is within a few years of carrying passengers.

Orbital flight is currently only available on the Russian Soyuz via Space Adventures.”

Most people who want to experience space tourism are intrigued by the adventure of it, but the price tag is steep. Be prepared to shell out about $200,000 for a Virgin Galactic flight. (Over 700 people have signed up for suborbital flights with the company.)

We happen to live in an ideal location when it comes to space activities. A number of Florida universities, including the University of Florida and Florida State University, are heavily involved in space research. There’s also ongoing work at the Florida Space Institute at the University of Central Florida and Emery Riddle Aeronautical University, which has astronaut training programs.

“Florida is in a great location to launch into space, with huge protected airspace to launch in the Eastern Test Range and nice scenery for space tourism, vibrant state and local support, extensive regional aerospace company access and local attractions to supplement the experience,” notes Clark.

In the near future, going into space will likely become more accessible. In Russia, a company known as Space Adventures already o ers astronaut-like training.

“The leading U.S. companies in suborbital space are Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic,” says Clark. “Orbital companies like SpaceX and Boeing are probably going to launch humans by 2020, initially for NASA, but they certainly could do commercial space tourists as well.”