Space Adventures is best described as a travel agency for private space travelers. Founded in 1998, it has since arranged flights with the Russian Space Agency a number of private trips to the International Space Station for a number of people willing to pay 20-30 million for the privilege. Among the private space travelers who have been to the space station include DENIS TITO, a former NASA employee turn financier, ANOUSHEH ANSARI, an Iranian American entrepreneur, RICHARD GARRIOTT, a computer game millionaire, billionaire Micorsoft developer CHARLES SIMONYI, AND Canadian billionaire GUY LALIBERT'e.
Zero-G teachers with astronaut Leland Melvin
Space Adventures, LLC is working with ARMADILLO AEROSPACE to arrange for private suborbital flights on a spacecraft being developed by that company. The company also sells rides on a MICROGRAVITY AIR FLIGHT that simulates the WEIGHTLESS CONDITIONS OF SPACE, with PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS among those sharing the experience to carry BACK INTO CLASSROOMS.
Meanwhile, any Virginia tax collection from Space Adventures, LLC will be redirected to the operational development of the Virginia commercial spaceport at Wallops Island, instead of the state's general revenue. HOUSE BILL 18, offered by State Delegate Terry Kilgore, CLARIFIES that the revenue transferred to the VIRGINIA COMMERCIAL SPACE FLIGHT AUTHORITY attributable to the sale of commercial human spaceflights or commercial space flight training by space flight entities (i) is the income tax revenue generated from such sale and (ii) is not determined solely by the point of sale or where the space flight takes place. The bill also expands such space flight entities to include limited liability companies.
