Russian Firm Displays Suborbital Space Tourism Spacecraft

Space Adventures has teamed up with a newly formed private Russian company called Suborbital Corporation to offer suborbital space tourism spaceflights. Suborbital Corporation has ordered a suborbital spacecraft from the Myasishchev Design Bureau, Zhukovskiy. Tickets are being offered for US$98,000 for three to five minutes in zero gravity on a suborbital flight. Space Adventures reports that 100 candidates have already signed up for suborbital flights. Test flights for the C-21 are expected to begin by 2004. The first tourist flights of the vehicle are planned for 2005 - 06.

The Myasishchev enterprise displayed a full-size mockup of their three-seat spacecraft to journalists at the Zhukovsky Air Base outside of Moscow. The three-seat Cosmopolis XXI (C-21, S-XXI) will accommodate a pilot and two passengers. It relies on technologies developed for the Soviet Buran space shuttle.

The Cosmopolis XXI Aerospace System consists of a carrier aircraft, the M-55X Geofizika plane, and a manned rocket module, the C-21. The module is a lifting body Reusable Launch Vehicle built around a 3-seat passenger capsule. It also includes an engine unit and an equipment compartment with rescue and environmental control / life support systems. The C-21 is about 8 m (26.25 ft) long.

The Cosmopolis XXI will be launched off the fuselage of a M-55X high-altitude Geofizika plane, also made by Myasishchev enterprises. The Geofizika will fly to an altitude of 17 km (56,100 feet). A connection between the carrier and the rocket module will provide information on status and control of all rocket module systems before take off and separation. When the trajectory angle reaches 40-60 degrees to the horizon, the locks will be disengaged and the rocket module will separate from the M-55X. At a safe distance from the carrier aircraft, the C-21šs rocket engine will be automatically ignited. The rocket module will then climb steadily under rocket power, on a gradual trajectory up to maximum altitude, around 100 km (54 nmi). Once the rocket engine burns out, it will separates from the crew compartment. The C-21 will then continue to gain altitude and the passengers will experience zero-gravity conditions for 3 - 5 minutes, after which the C-21 will reenter the atmosphere. During the descent phase back to Earth, control surfaces are extended for optimal aerodynamic performance. The landing is divided into the glide-phase and the final parachute-assisted touch down. The sub-orbital flight will last for 60 to 90 minutes. Four days of space flight orientation including centrifuge, zero-gravity and high-altitude jet flight training, as well as safety and onboard system lessons are expected to be required.

Two carrier-planes of the M-55X Geofizika series have already been built. A model of the tourist spaceship will soon be tested in an aerodynamic wind tunnel.

Suborbital Corporation estimates it will cost US$10 million to build and test the Cosmopolis XXI Aerospace System. The entire program envisages acquiring two carrier aircraft and seven suborbital ships and is expected to cost approximately US$60 million. The project is being financed by unnamed Western investors.

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