Google cofounder Sergey Brin has a ticket to ride. He’s ponied up a $5 million deposit for a seat on the Russian spacecraft Soyuz. The total ticket price is $35 million.
Brin made the deposit with Space Adventures, the space tourism company announced Wednesday. Brin’s deposit gives him the right to a seat on a future space flight or to sell his seat to another would-be cosmonaut. He is currently slated to go into outer space in 2011.
So far, Vienna, Va.-based Space Adventures has sent five people into outer space since 1998. For the 2011 flight, Space Adventures bought two of the three seats on a Soyuz spacecraft.
On his two-week voyage, Brin will orbit the earth about 150 to 200 times and carry out a scientific mission of some sort. Possible work includes pharmaceutical testing or experimenting with computer circuit boards.
“It’s like we chartered an airplane, only in this case it was a rocket,” said Eric Anderson, founder of Space Adventures.
“I am a big believer in the exploration and commercial development of the space frontier, and am looking forward to the possibility of going into space,” Brin said. “Space Adventures helped open the space frontier to private citizens and thus pave the way for the personal spaceflight industry.”
Among the wealthy lined up to be cosmonauts are Richard Garriott, creator of the Ultima video games. Garriott has a seat on a craft that will travel to the International Space Station in October.
Brin’s interest gives a boost to Space Adventures, which is building “a definitive consortium of future private space explorers who share a lifetime goal of orbital spaceflight or the investment therein,” said CEO Eric Anderson.
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