Dawn Of The Citizen Astronaut: Asa Agents Have Your Ticket

By Philip A. Janquart
NewSpace Magazine

BOISE, ID "" Kevin Loveless stood in the midst of the dry, barren wasteland that is White Sands, New Mexico. When the bus that brought him there pulled away, he was struck with awe at the vision beyond it.

"We saw the future right there in front us," He said.

Loveless stood with a group of fellow Accredited Space Agents (ASA"s) gathered from around the world as they got their first in-person glimpse of Spaceport America, the first-ever civilian spaceport being built by the citizens of New Mexico. Dona Ana and Sierra County Voters approved a $40 million spaceport tax in 2008, funding the project and making the state not only a bookmark in space industry history but, now, a launch point for the future.

"It looked like a giant mushroom, but you hardly knew it was there because they"ve built it into the environment," Loveless said. "It just looked like it belonged there."

President of Global Travel in Boise, Loveless recently returned from his second ASA forum at Spaceport America, an event designed to familiarize agents with the facilities, as well as New Mexico and its rich, and sometimes surprising, industry history. The forum, held October 4 through 8, included stops at the National Solar Observatory and the New Mexico Museum of Space History.

Loveless is one of 75 ASA"s in the America"s and Australia, and one of 128 in 33 countries worldwide authorized by Virgin Galactic to sell vacation packages to future civilian astronauts.

There are fewer than 500 people who have been to space, but Virgin Galactic plans on increasing those numbers beginning next year, when it sends the first private spacecraft, SpaceShip Two, (a.k.a. VSS Enterprise) beyond the mesosphere into the lower thermosphere. It will carry two pilots and six private citizens, giving them the unique opportunity to see Earth from 62 miles, or 327,360 feet above sea level. Tickets are $200,000 a piece, and those eager to become space travel pioneers can make a deposit of $20,000 to reserve a seat on a future flight.

"So far there are a total of 370 tickets sold, with about $50 million in protected deposits," said Loveless, who began the process of becoming an ASA in January 2009. "This really gets me excited from a travel perspective. I have two or three individuals who are very interested (in buying tickets). I"m actually interested in it myself."

Loveless became involved in selling seats on spacecraft through his membership with Virtuoso, the industry leader in luxury travel and Virgin Galactic"s retail sales channel since 2006. Virtuoso is a "By-invitation-only" organization, comprising over 300 agencies with more than 6,000 elite travel specialists in 22 countries. The company, which also publishes a magazine under the same name, has exclusive rights to sell Virgin Galactic space travel in the Americas, extending those rights to member agents.

Prospective agents must attend training with Virgin Galactic, giving them expert knowledge in guiding prospective space customers.

To read the entire story, log on to www.newspacemagazine.com