Thu, Jun 01, 2006
Seattle Company Seeks To Send Your Stuff Into Space
For those of us who
can't afford the $200,000 pricetag for a brief suborbital ride into
space aboard a Virgin Galactic ship in 2008 -- or who can't quite
stomach the idea of riding in a rocket -- a Seattle company is
offering a far safer, much more economical alternative.
For half a C-note ($50) ZG Aerospace will fly your business card
into space... and they'll do it a lot sooner than Sir Richard
Branson's spaceline will get off the ground, with the maiden flight
of ZG's rocket set for a few weeks from now.
ZG Aerospace founder Tom Gonser reports that, frankly, he's
surprised by how many people have responded. At least 200 have
signed up to send their stuff aboard the maiden flight of his
company's 19.5-foot-tall, 775 pound ZGS-1 rocket so far, he told
the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
While the launch has been postponed several times since March,
Gonser reports all is go for liftoff from New Mexico's Spaceport
sometime in July. Most people are sending their business cards into
space, but others have sent ashes... photos... even engraved
titanium rings, that the company sells for $250 (including the
rocket flight.)
Whatever price you pay, your stuff will be sent into space at an
altitude somewhere between 62 and 70 miles up. It will then
experience up to four minutes of weightlessness, before returning
to earth.
Owners will then be able to retrieve their items... and, we
assume, display them with pride. Well, perhaps not the ashes...
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