[单选题]

Will We TakeVacation in Spaces?

When Mike Kellyfirst set out to build his own private space-ferry service,he figured hisbread-and-butter business would be lofting satellites into high-Earth orbit.Now he

thinks he may havefigured wrong.“People were always asking me when they could go,”says Kelly,whoruns

Kelly Space TechnologTout of San Bernardino,California.“I realized that real market is in space tourism.”

According topreliminary market surveys,there are 10,000 would-be-space-tourists willing tospend $1 million each to visit the final frontier. Space Adventure in

Arlington,Virginia,hastaken more than 1 30 deposits for a two-hour,$98,000 space tour tentatively(andsomewhat dubiously)set to occur by 2005 .Gene Meyers of the Space

Island Group says.“Spaceis the next exotic vacation spot.”

This may all soundgreat,but there are a few hurdles.Putting a simple satellite into orbit with nooxygen,life support or return trip necessary already costs an astronomical

$22,000/kg.

And that doesn'tinclude the cost of insuring rich and possibly litigious passenger. John Pike ofthe

Federation ofAmerican Scientists acerbically suggests that the entire group of entrepreneurstrying to corner the space tourism market have between them“just enough money

to blow up onerocket.”The U .S.space agency has plenty of money but zero interest in makingspace less expensive for the little guys.So the little guys are racing to dowhat

the government hasfailed to do.design a reusable launch system that's inexpensive,safe andreliable.Kelly Space's prototype looks like a plane that has sprouted rocket

engines.RotaryRocket in Redwood City,California,hasabooster with rotors make a helicopter-style return to Earth;Kistler Aerospacein Kirkland,Wash- ington,is piecing

together itsversions from old Soviet engines,shuttle-style thermal protection tiles and anelaborate parachute system.The first passenger countdowns are still yearsaway,but

bureaucrats at theFederal Aviation Administration in Washingtonare already informally discussing flight regulations.After all,you can't be tooprepared for a trip to that

galaxy far,far away.

For those who areintent on joining the 100-mile high club,Hilton and Budget are plotting tobuild space hotels.Before the Russian space Mir came down,some people were

talking about usingit as a low-rent space hotel to reduce the cost. If a space hotel is finallybuilt in space,and if you're thinking of staying in it,you may want to checkthe

Michelin ratingsbefore booking yourself a suite.Kelly hoped todevelop space tourism,which he thought would be a good market.

A.Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

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