A man who is set to become one of the first Canadian space tourists says that blasting off into space is the fulfilment of a lifelong dream.
John Criswick, an Ottawa entrepreneur, is among the several hundred people who have purchased tickets costing $US200,000 to blast off into space when billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic starts to transport people into space. Criswick is among four Canadians who have already booked their flights on 'the world's first spaceline.'
"I've been always wanting to do that all my life," Criswick says. "But for me it's part of a personal journey."
Criswick's desire to blast off into space went beyond the common childhood desire to become an astronaut. After receiving his electrical engineering degree from the University of British Columbia, he worked for Canadian Astronautics, a space hardware maker in Ottawa, and he has worked in high technology for over 20 years.
Up until now, fewer than 500 astronauts have had the experience of being in space. Virgin Galactic is offering commercial space flight to regular citizens without obligating them to undergo years of training and pay millions of dollars.
The flight will take place on a spaceship attached to an aircraft taking off from the Mojave Desert in California and will fly to an altitude of approximately 17,000 metres before the spaceship itself is released. At times, the craft will be travelling at three times the speed of sound.
The flights last over two hours and passengers will have the chance to experience four or five minutes of weightlessness.
Passengers on the spaceship will be required to complete three days of training and g-force acclimatization.
Criswick will not be taking off until 2009, but he is already abuzz with anticipation.
"There's a little bit of excitement right now, but I know in two years it's going to be consuming me," Criswick said.
