Destination Space: How Space Tourism Is Making Science Fiction a Reality

by Kenny Kemp

The human impulse is to explore, and now there is an unexplored territory open for the traveler. The arrival of a revolutionary, safe, and environmentally friendly flying machine called SpaceShipTwo makes suborbital space travel a reality. For the first time, passenger astronauts are able to pay for a ride into space on a commercial space flight. They will be able to experience weightlessness, witness the curvature of the Earth, and have a unique view of the Universe seen only by very few. The thrilling history of the race for space is described and the men and women who will make history on the inaugural missions are sought out. Detailing their arduous training, how their bodies will be affected in space, and the technological breakthroughs of SpaceShipTwo, Destination Space is the real Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy .

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Ada Haynes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Warning, this book is mainly about the achievements (up till 2007, when it was written) of Virgin Galactic. (and no wonder as you find out in the acknowledgments that it was actually commissioned by the Virgin group and published by... Virgin)
That said, it tells a little bit about Humanity space exploration history (Russia, US, Nasa...), and, also, what Virgin Galactic is trying to achieve (technically), along its rivals. We are now in 2021 and what was planned for 2010 (the first flight with paying passengers) has only happened a few months ago (I found out why on wikipedia)
I only gave it 2 stars not because the title was not warning it was all a private advertisement campaign (that could at least have been mentioned on the front page), but because the book itself was (to me) mainly information dump (the author gives a LOT of CV information about all the great people he introduces all along in the book) and the dump is not even well structured either. Maybe the writer thought he didn't have enough material for 250 pages. Maybe he didn't try hard enough either.

[Audun Forgard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books is a worthily account of the many new and exciting opportunities the venture to go out privately and peaefully into space. Space tourism may sound like a outrageous prospect today - This bok was written in 2007, and it has dated a little. BUT - This is the frontier man has to cross. It is like the founder of modern spaceprograms Igor Tsilovkovsky said - "Earth is the cradle of man - but man cannot forever stay in the cradle." If we as a species are to ever get over our war like and destructive behaviours, we need to aim for the firmament above. We need to find out how to live there, independently, and how far we can go. This book gives a useful historical chronology from the earliest efforts up to, um, yeah, 2007. Much has happened since. I also reccomend as a good source companion "The Diamond Principle" by James McCanney

[Alan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know what I was expecting, space is exciting and mysterious and this book failed to make it seem either. I tried to stick with it, I really did, but I just couldn't waste any more of my time on it. I'm not happy about that. Since I accepted that I didn't have to finish books that failed to grip me I have increasingly failed to finish books. After this book, I started and failed to finish two others. It's fairly simple. If I find my mind drifting whilst reading it's obviously just not working.