The ultimate travel destination, the International Space Station ISS, is located at 400 km above earth:

As of 2018, more than 530 people have traveled to outer space, but less than 180 people have traveled to all 193 UN-countries.

Outer space has been defined as any flight above 100 km (the Karman Line), according to the FAI.

I went on a tour to the Columbus Control Center by the European Space Agency ESA and Deutsches Luft- und Raumfahrtzentrum DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen near MUNICH (their call sign next to HOUSTON and MOSCOW) …

large_dlr4.jpg

… in order to enquire about private space flights … Beam me up please !

large_dlr1.jpg

So far there have only been 7 private space tourists onboard the ISS. One of the space tourists I met personally is Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque de Soleil, who flew to the International Space Station in September 2009 at a price tag of … US$ 40 Mio … ouch !

270px-Soyuz-TMA-16-Mission-Patch.png

Laliberté is pictured here in true style with a red clown nose, after 11 days in space, at his landing in a Soyuz capsule in the Kazakh Steppe.

dlr22.jpg

In MUNICH there is a 1:20 replica model of the complete ISS International Space Station with its European (ESA), Japanese (JAXA) and Russian capsules (ROSCOSMOS, in the background) …

large_dlr21.jpg

… and a real-size model of the European part, the Columbus capsule, used by ESA astronauts …

large_dlr17.jpg

… pictured here from inside:

large_DLR24.jpg

As a freedom-loving German I don’t like speed limits, but in this case I’ll make an exception.

large_DLR23.jpg

After a short chat with this friendly space tourist trainer …

large_dlr15.jpg

… I was allowed outside for my first space walk …

large_dlr7.jpg

A big step for a man with vertigo … or should I say the cost is a bit too sky high 🙁

large_dlr2.jpg

Currently there is a real German astronaut onboard ISS, Dr. Alexander Gerst (45), sponsored by the taxpayers:

large_2ae27970-8a67-11e8-9e1f-3b5eac97e128.jpg

Gerst’s activities are permanently monitored from this control room in MUNICH:

large_dlr14.jpg

More information & impressions from MUNICH:

large_dlr9.jpg

large_dlr13.jpg

large_dlr6.jpg

large_dlr5.jpg

large_dlr12.jpg

Even astronaut Snoopy is exhibited in MUNICH.

large_DLR26.jpg

It’s a big game. Where the Russians always win.

large_DLR27.jpg

And in Oberpfaffenhofen we finally found the studio where Stanley Kubrick filmed the moon landing
(his German wife Susanne was from the famous Harland filmmaker family):

large_DLR25.jpg

🙂





Source link