Xcor Aerospace ties up with Fortpoint Automotive to lure more Indians for Space travel

NEW DELHI: A few Indians have booked their tickets in a passenger spacecraft that will blast them into space, 100 km beyond earth's gravity, to a spot from where one can see the curvature of our planet, shelling out about $100,000, or Rs 62 lakh.

Xcor Aerospace, the US firm that is developing the tourist rocket plane, has tied up with Mumbai based Fortpoint Automotive to woo more Indians to take its space tours, expected to take off next year. "We have sold over 300 tickets worldwide, including a few to Indians," said Peter Van Rooy, global sales manager at Xcor Space Expeditions.

"In front of the passenger and above there is total blackness, underneath one will see the curvature of the earth," he said.

Citing confidentiality reasons, Rooy did not disclose the names of the Indians who have booked seats for the point-to-point one-hour flight from California. The idea of space tourism took off in 2004 when British entrepreneur Richard Branson launched Virgin Galactic to start a space travel programme. About 800 people — including Stephen Hawking, Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie, and a Keralabased businessman, Santosh George Kulangara — have already booked their ticket to board Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, which costs $250,000, which is about Rs 1.55 crore.

But it's not clear who will start commercial operations first, particularly after a SpaceShipTwo crashed in November last during a test flight, bringing a lot of latent apprehensions to the fore.

According to a Europe-based travel company that markets Virgin Galactic, many Indians have shown interest in its space tour.

As part of Xcor's move to woo Indians for its space tour programme, a full scale model of its spacecraft, the Lynx, will be displayed at The Luxury Festival, organised by Quintessentially Lifestyle Services India in Delhi in April.

Xcor is also targeting the Chinese. "We see huge potential in Asia Pacific," Rooy said. "Already more than 30 mainland Chinese have purchased tickets, representing approximately 10% of the total numbers," he said.

Travel business insiders say that while the idea of space trip is fascinating, it will catch up only once it takes off.

"On papers these ideas sound fascinating. Good for public relations, but how much does it translate into reality and is actually executed has to be seen," said Vikram Madhok, managing director of luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent India.