Buran as tourist vehicle, some thoughts

>At sunset or
>sunrise (1 each every 90 minutes) it's supposed to be quite a show.

Hmm, charge them extra to watch it freeze? Postcards?

>There might be a way to hook things up for women as well, but the
>plumbing is different.

Yeah Mom and Dad sat me down when I was a lad and told me about that. My
wife and I still explore it on occasion.

>Since the current tourist offerings consist of $20 M for a week at the
>ISS and, with luck, $98,000 for a 15 min flight starting in 2004 or so,
>we should aim towards the middle market: a weekend in space. With the
>training it will require a trip of at least a week, probably longer. My
>unsupported guess is that you can charge $1-3 million per passenger.
>You need at least one crew member, even if they don't control the
>vehicle, to control the passengers. So the issue is: how much will a
>Buran flight cost (including paying off the development cost on the
>tourist module), how many tourists per flight, how many flights per
>year, and how big is the potential market?

Blessed are the numerically inclined, for they make sure you still have a
shirt when the day is done! These are some of the numbers we truly need to
figure out if we're just '-ing up a rope, or if we'll go down in history.
Anybody got any ideas where we can get these?

bob I'm still contemplating a thorough marketing reply to your last posting.
Not something I can dash off in 15 minutes....