Singapore, we have lift-off
After a year-long search for a suitable launch pad for its space flights, Space Adventures has homed in on Singapore as the site for an integrated port which will offer space flights and astronaunt training.

The US-based company, which was behind the voyages of the world’s first three space tourists, chose Singapore from a list of contenders such as several US states, Australia, Japan, Malaysia and Dubai.

According to the Straits Times, the space port will be used to stage commercial sub-orbital flights, whereby the space vehicle exits the Earth’s atmosphere at about 100km above ground but does not reach the speeds needed to sustain a continuous orbit of Earth.

This means passengers will experience about five minutes of weightlessness, see a view of the curvature of the Earth and the darkness of space, before descent.

The price tag for these thrills? About US$100,000. Travellers will first be trained at the astronaut training centre in Singapore.

Space Adventures, set up by a US astronaut in 1998, flew American Dennis Tito in 2001, South African Mark Shuttleworth in 2002 and Greg Olsen, another American, in October 2005. They paid US$20 million each for a one-week stay on the International Space Station.