Chinese tourists find a new frontier

Chinese travelers may soon be able to boldly go where no Chinese has gone before ... on a "balloon trip" to the edge of space, scientists said yesterday.

Jiang Fang, president of Beijing-based "Space Vision," told Xinhua news agency that such tours had been endorsed by many experts as feasible.

His project involves a manned capsule carried by a high-altitude helium balloon to carry sightseers about 40 kilometers above the Earth where they will be able to see the curvature of the planet, experience weightlessness and look for the spots where China's Chang'e and America's Apollo probes landed on the moon.

Jiang said that, in addition to technical aspects of the flight itself, the company had spent nine months researching communications, radar and other ground-based monitoring operations.

At a seminar in Beijing, Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist with the Chang'e lunar mission and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said of balloon flight: "It will become a reliable, safe and economical way for the public to travel to the space."

A five-hour trip would cost about 500,000 yuan (US$81,392) per person to including training and insurance, he said.

Passengers would wear pressurized suits and head for outer space in a sealed capsule.

The first trials are due to take place next summer after which a schedule will be drawn up, Ouyang said.

Jiang said: "If everything goes well, the project will be open for the public after the test phase. However, as uncertainties exist, we cannot be sure about the exact date and that is why we did not make the project open for candidates' signing-up now."

Jiang said he was a medical student and had been working in the medicine sector until 2004 when he started to do business as an agent in China for foreign space travel programs.

"I myself have signed up for an American program but never made it due to problems with the program," he said.

"And then I thought 'why not initiate one by myself?'"

Selling tickets wouldn't be a problem, he said.

"Look around and you will find that we have plenty of potential customers in China who have enough courage, and wealth as well.

"Ten years ago when I first talked about my ambition to go into the space business, nine out of 10 people I knew told me that I must be crazy, but now, most of them, including scientists and officials, say I am doing a great business," Jiang said. "You can see the space industry and awareness is growing fast in China."

US-based World View Enterprises announced similar plans last year with the first flights due to begin in 2016.

On a trip costing US$75,000, travelers will stay aloft for about two hours in a pressurized capsule carrying two crew and six passengers.

The company has been conducting unmanned test flights for the past 18 months and hopes to start manned tests by the end of next year.

CEO Jane Poynter said the company had received interest in the flights from all over the world.

Two years ago, Felix Baumgartner jumped from a capsule carried 39 kilometers above the Earth by the world's largest helium baloon, breaking world records for skydives and speed.