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Courtesy of XCOR and RocketShip Tours.
“Space flight is a life-long dream for those who are passionate about science and research and space,” said Suzanne Hall, Ensemble Travel Group's senior director of marketing and development, land products. “In fact, for them it may not even be viewed as a luxury but a life-altering, personal fulfillment.”
Phoenix-based RocketShip Tours has announced a new partnership with Ensemble Travel Group expanding the availability of space tourism to the general public through travel agencies in their local communities. Travel agents wishing to add RocketShip's out-of-this-world adventure to their portfolio of vacations are required to complete RocketShip Tours' online university study program and become a Space Tourism Specialist. The training prerequisite speaks to the extreme professionalism of how the program is managed as well as the unique nature of the space experience.
“I'm always looking for travel adventures that are unique and different – experiences that truly create a 'wow factor',” said Laura Lukasik of Viking Travel in Westmont, IL and one of the first Ensemble Travel Group members to become a Space Tourism Specialist. What's more unique and different than traveling into space?”
In addition to the sub-orbital flight in the Lynx rocket ship, currently under review and testing, space tourists will participate in a five-day training program and medical screening. The RocketShip training program, unlike traditional NASA training programs, will take place at a deluxe resort in Arizona. On the flight itself a single passenger will sit in the co-pilot's seat next to the astronaut-pilot flying the vehicle providing an intimate and individual adventure each time.
Clients are already exploring the possibilities even though the Lynx is not set to launch commercially until 2011.
“In our quest to be always ahead of the curve in travel, Roberta Sonnino Travel [a member of Ensemble Travel Group] offered us, with great enthusiasm, the ultimate experience in this unique voyage into space,” explained one space tourist.
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