At Australia’s Tourism Futures conference, futurologist Ian Yeoman (of New Zealand’s University of Wellington) forecast artificial resorts with robot staff, and yep, even robot prostitutes could become a reality.
At last, your claims of knowing New York’s subway system “like the back of your hand” will be more than just boasting (OK, lying).
Warning, middle-class Earthmen. By the end of this post, your dreams of low-cost space travel will be delayed. Above: WhiteKnightTwo Eve’s Maiden Flight. Photo Credit Schereer Scherer.
I imagine the first thing on everyone’s mind when they return from space is “When the f%&@ can I go back!?” Today, Charles Simonyi became the first space tourist to make a second paid flight.
I need a vacation. I was thinking Pavones beach, Costa Rica, or maybe some sailing in Hunnebo, Sweden. But no, the Japanese have convinced me with these videos: It’s going to be Hakodate, Japan.
Oh God yes. Remember the otherweek when we told you that Virgin Blue were teasing the idea that they were giving away a trip on Virgin Galactic? Well they are. Or, to be more precise, they’re giving away 25 million Velocity frequent flyer points, which is enough to claim your place on a trip to space.
Richard Garriot and other well-to-do nerds will no longer be able to play spaceman, now that Russia’s cancelling its astrotourism program to make way for three real astronauts at the International Space Station.
We saw ground tests last week, but yesterday morning WhiteKnightTwo–the funky-looking double-wide plane that will take SpaceShipTwo and its cargo of millionaires on suborbital spaceflights–finally took off on its maiden voyage.
It becomes less and less a future fever dream every day: Spaceport America in Las Cruces, NM, Virgin Galactic’s future home, has gotten FAA approval to begin construction.
