The Space Tourist’s Spaceport Guide

Abstract

So you’ve bought your ticket to space? Now all you need to do before strapping yourself in for the ride is check off the training. But where? After all, rocket-launch ranges have lots of wide-open space but little else. Fortunately, the companies offering spaceflights have come up with an answer: spaceports. What is a spaceport? Well, it’s similar to a commercial airport or a cruise ship terminal. It’s a place where space tourists can feel relaxed and welcome and where their friends and family can feel vicariously involved. It’s a place where everyone can spend (lots of) money on accommodation, food, drinks, and souvenirs. And it’s a place where you, as a potential space tourist, can check off all that training you need to do: centrifuge training, high-altitude indoctrination, spatial disorientation training, emergency egress training. And, since some of this training will be stressful (Figure 3.1), it makes sense to co-locate medical facilities to check the health of the space tourists and certify them for spaceflight. This will be especially true in the early stages of the industry, because wealthy individuals, who can afford the flights, tend to be older and less healthy than average. There will also need to be emergency facilities in case of accidents.