Space – the final frontier

Intrepid holidaymakers have made it almost everywhere – from the heart of the Amazonian rainforest to the depths of the oceans – yet space remains tantalisingly out of reach for all but a select few. Only 450 people have reached outer space, said to be a distance of 100km from the Earth’s surface. Yet, if some companies have their way, this figure is set to soar as the low-cost revolution comes to spaceflight.

Outer space ... just

The world’s first regular space trips are set to take off in early 2009 with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. If you have the money, you could be rubbing space-suited shoulders with the likes of the former Dallas actress Victoria Principal and the designer Philippe Starck, who will be among the first passengers.

For your money, you will be one of 13 passengers who fly to 50,000ft in a “mothership”. You transfer to the VSS (Virgin Space Ship) Enterprise. After the ship reaches its highest point – at which the passengers (sorry, astronauts) will experience zero gravity – its wings will fold away and it will descend towards Earth. At 60,000ft above ground, the wings again unfold and the spaceship glides safely back to the spaceport.

Cost: $200,000 (£100,000). Virgin Galactic (www.virgingalactic.com).

Zero gravity

If you can’t afford to go to space proper, the next best thing is to experience zero gravity on a specially adapted aircraft. A company called Go Zero G operates regular flights from Las Vegas, and the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida (which has launched a new shuttle launch simulator ride for £19). The trip takes about three to four hours, which includes 90 minutes of flying time. Among the company’s satisfied customers is the cosmologist Stephen Hawking, who vowed: “Space, here I come.”

Cost: about £1,855. Go Zero G (www.gozerog.com).

Pulling a few gs

As well as zero gravity, part of the astronaut experience is high levels of gravity, experienced during launch and reentry under rapid acceleration and deceleration.

Luckily, you don’t need to go to space to see what it’s like. You can get some of the feeling by driving too fast over a humpback bridge, but for a better sensation, you need to climb inside a centrifuge, the machine that real astronauts use to prepare themselves for the rigours of spaceflight.

Russia’s Atlas Aerospace was set up in 1999 and trains cosmonauts and space tourists with enough money to buy time on their machines. An 18-minute programme on the Atlas centrifuge recreates the experience of launch, weightlessness and the return to Earth, including forces of up to several g.

Cost: about £3,482, travel and hotel extra. Atlas Aerospace (www.atlasaerospace.net).

Kids’ capers

Budding Buzz Aldrins should head to Huntsville, Alabama, home to the US Space and Rocket Centre. Children from 9 to 11 can attend three to six-day space camp courses, which includes time in a spinning chair, used by astronauts on the US Gemini programme. They will test out a jetpack, eat space food and find out how to sleep and go to the loo in orbit.

The US-based camps cost from about £200 for three days’ full board. Longer programmes of up to 13 days are available for older children. The Euro Space Centre in Belgium offers similar international space camps for £272 full board or £154 for the camp only. Space Camp (www.spacecamp.com). Euro Space Centre (00 32 61 65 64 65, www.eurospacecenter.be ).

Down to Earth

An industrial estate in Leicester does not seem the most obvious place to experience space, but this is no ordinary industrial estate. On it sits the National Space Centre. At the heart of the centre is a six-minute 3-D thrill ride that recreates a rocket launch from the surface of the Moon and a bumpy ride through space to one of the icy moons of Jupiter.

There are real spacecraft, too, including a real Soyuz capsule. Most of the exhibits are interactive: spinning domes that give you space sickness and water-propelled rockets that zoom up into the roof are ideal for school-age would-be astronauts.

Cost: adults £11, children (4-16) £9, family ticket £34. National Space Centre (0116-261 0261, www.spacecentre.co.uk).