Making life a holiday with interesting vacation and adventure ideas.

Virgin Galactic has unveilled WhiteKnight Two, at the Civilian Aerospace Test Center in the Mojave desert, California, USA.

WhiteKnight Two has been designed to take adventurous tourists into suborbital space and will be ready for its first passengers in 2010. Apparently 200 adventurers have already signed up for WhiteKnight Two's maiden flight, including the Branson family. If you want to join them, expect to pay around $200,000 for a return ticket.

Labels: 2008, 2010, Richard Branson, space, space tourism, spaceflight, suborbital, Virgin, WhiteKnight Two

Once again, NASA is seeking to hire a few good teachers and as you might guess, some travel is required. The space agency is encouraging teachers to apply for its astronaut-candidate class of 2009.

I bet kids will be lining up to nominate teachers for the pleasure of being blasted into space. More

Labels: NASA, space, teachers

Space Adventures are offering tourists trips around the moon for $100 million per person; presumably travel insurance will be a little higher than the cost of the average sea cruise.
The lucky vacationers will begin their adventure by being launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. It is proposed that the spacecraft will then rendezvous in low-Earth-orbit with a booster rocket, which will propel the craft to the moon.

Labels: adventure, moon, space, space tourism, spaceflight

The NASA Kennedy Space Center has opened its new Shuttle Launch Experience simulator; tested by astronauts, it is said to be spectacular and very realistic.

Participants experience G-forces during the simulated blast-off and zero gravity as the the craft shuts off its main engines on entering orbit. The illusion is completed when the shuttle's bay doors are opened, revealing a fabulous view of the earth from space.

The new Shuttle simulator is just one of many fun-filled adventure activities on offer at the Kennedy Space Center, including individual, family and corporate Astronaut Training Experiences ranging from one to three days.

Labels: NASA, Shuttle Launch Simulator, simulator, space, U.S.A.

You could win a trip to space. Just imagine yourself 100 kilometres (62 miles) above the Earth's surface taking holiday snaps like this; awesome.

This astonishing prize is being offered by New Scientist and Audi to the person, who in the opinion of the judges, is most original in their choice of the world's best patented invention of all time and their 250 word description of why they think it is the best. Current entries include sliced bread, the toilet plunger, bubble wrap and condoms but I once attended a lecture where it was pointed out that none of the preceding would exist without the invention of the vacuum pump; winning this competition is going to require incredible imagination.

The lucky winner will undergo 4 days of extensive training culminating in a sub-orbital flight. You have until April 30, 2007, to get your entries in and the winning entry will be published in the June 2 issue of New Scientist.

Labels: Audi, competition, New Scientist, patent, space