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Beyond the wild blue yonder
Virginia Business
June 2005
Eric Anderson considers himself a
tour operator, but you won’t find him chartering
bus trips to Disney World or arranging hotel reservations
in Paris. His destinations are just a little more far-flung.
Space Adventures, based in Arlington, is the first-ever
firm to offer tours of orbital and suborbital space.
It also offers edge-of-space, zero-gravity and supersonic
jet flights, astronaut training and simulator experiences.
Anderson, 30, an aerospace engineer
and a University of Virginia alum, says that “there
are a significant number of people out there who are
inspired and fascinated by space and will do anything
for the chance to get there.”
That includes shelling out a small
fortune. Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth, the world’s
first space tourists were Space Adventures clients.
They paid $20 million a piece to vacation (separately)
on the International Space Station. A sizeable portion
of that went to Anderson’s company, which basically
acted as a “buyer’s agent,” negotiating
their contracts with the Russian government and providing
medical exams and some of the specialized training.
Since then, Space Adventures has changed its business
model, “offering a one-shop-stop” for the
thrill-junkie multibillionaire in need of an orbital
getaway. “The customer can now buy the flight
directly from us,” says Anderson.
Anderson isn’t interested in
just being an outlet for the super-wealthy. His 7-year-old
company, which recently was listed among the state’s
fastest-growing firms, has other offerings for adventure
enthusiasts, private pilots and space lovers with sizeable
entertainment budgets. A soon-to-be available program,
for example, will — for $100,000 a shot —
rocket travelers into suborbital space (just above the
atmosphere) and a five-minute view of the Earth below.
Already, more than 2,000 customers
have enjoyed Space Adventures’ programs. The company,
which charters all of its air and spacecraft, has projected
that it will gross more than $100 million a year from
its suborbital space flights alone. Guess the sky’s
no longer the limit. |
