Spaceport

I thought this must be the hottest piece of news in the local papers which I must be a country bumpkin to have missed it. But lo, no one seemed to have heard of it reported in the local news or am I hanging out with the wrong people. Besides a colleague coming across this in Economist, it is sheer chance that I picked this out in Newsweek (Aug 11, p39). There is even a picture of the "artist's view" of what the facility will look like. The article says:

"Other countries have also caught the rocket fever. Developers in Singapore and the United Arabs Emirates are bent on adding spaceports to their existing economic hubs. Singapore is planning a $115million facility funded by Space Adventures, a Richmond, Virginia-based space-travel company, and its partner, Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Crown Prince of Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, as well as some private investors. The port, to be located next to the Singapore's Changi airport, will function as a base for sub-orbital flights and as a private astronaut-training facility. It will offer zero-gravity flights, high-altitude jet rides, centrifuge rides and space simulations, along with a public education and interactive visitor center.

"Singapore developed as a port country," says Michael Lyon, a project manager of the Spaceport Singapore project, "Moving into space is a natural evolution for them.""

There are apparently already 35 functioning spaceports in the world, most of them controlled by govt. And there are at least 8 private ones in the planning, Singapore being one of them.

Even the Wikipedia has write-up on it.

Well, this game will only be for those with money to burn. As Newsweek puts it "Until the $200,000 ticket prices are lowered, space tourism will be confined to the super-rich."