Ahu Aysal Kerimoğlu is one of the lucky people who has dreamt of seeing space since she was a child and can afford the ticket to go into space.
Space Expedition Curacao (SXC), a company that operates in space tourism, began to sell tickets in April 2011 for a journey into space to provide a chance to the wider public to observe the beauty of the Earth from space.
In an agreement with VIP Tourism in Turkey, one seat was reserved for a Turkish passenger. The ticket, worth $95,000, was booked by Ahu Aysal Kerimoğlu (55), a prominent businesswoman and the owner of Hotel Les Ottomans in İstanbul.
Going into space has always been a dream for Kerimoğlu. “I’m a traveler; I’ve traveled all over the world. Now I have seized a great opportunity to go into space. For a traveler, space is the final destination — the ultimate place to go,” Kerimoğlu told the press in İstanbul on Thursday, expressing her happiness.
As the first step, Kerimoğlu will have to have tests to determine whether she is medically fit for the journey. Then she will go to the Netherlands for training.
Ceylan Pirinçcioğlu, CEO of VIP Tourism, the company that sold Kerimoğlu her ticket, told the press on Thursday that the target audience of commercial spaceflight companies is rich people. However, he added, in time more people will have the opportunity as ticket prices fall.
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Pirinçcioğlu said there will be total of 300 space tourism flights in 2014, with one pilot and one passenger per flight. Due to the favorable atmospheric conditions there, flights will launch from the Caribbean island of Curacao.
As commercial spaceflight emerges as a nascent industry, more and more people are looking for the opportunity to explore space. Still, the number of space tourists has been limited thus far. However, this will probably change in the coming years, as some companies have already begun to invest in this new sector and to launch campaigns to attract the attention of clients from all around the world.
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