NASA focused on commercial space travel

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Crossing oceans isn’t enough for you? Well, NASA is working to scratch the most extreme of travel itches. The organization is putting $50 million of economic stimulus cash from the feds into putting the average traveler into space. Companies eager to develop a commercial space vehicle have 45 days to submit their proposals, and the winner will be announced by the end of September.

The program comes at a time when NASA is drastically changing its approach to space. After seven more missions next year, the space shuttle fleet is going to be retired – with the final touch being the completion of the International Space Station. Then, we’ll be outsourcing our space travel to Russia, with U.S. astronauts hitching rides to the space station. Cargo will be shipped to this extraterrestrial spot – 225 miles from Earth – by rockets and capsules being developed by SpaceX and Orbital Sciences.

So, commercial space travel appears to be the key to getting the United States back into the game. Some big names have shown some interest in building the vehicles, including Boeing, Retro Aerospace, Davidson Technologies and Emergent Space technologies.

Russians convert nuclear icebreaker into a hotel

by Annie Scott on

“Lenin” is the name of this ship, which was launched in 1957. It was the first nuclear powered surface ship and the first nuclear powered civilian vessel in the world.

So what kind of ship is it? An icebreaker. Icebreakers can literally cut through permanent and seasonal ice in the water — they are specially shaped for this and are actually rather clumsy in open water.

This 134-meter long, 19 ton ship was decommissioned in 1989, and on May 5th, it sailed into Murmansk, where it is now being converted into a luxury hotel and museum.

It makes sense — the ship was quite like a hotel, complete with cabins, a library, a cinema, a club, and several dining rooms.

Vyacheslav Ruksha, head of nuclear icebreaker operator Atomflot, told Ekho Moscow that there is no radiation risk. All aboard!

[via The Rich Times]

Flight attendants on hunger strike

by Annie Scott on

It’s hard for most of us to imagine a situation so dire it would inspire us to go on hunger strike. Sadly, that is not the case for the Russian flight attendants who were not paid for eight months of work when their airline folded.

According to United Press International:
“KrasAir ceased operations last October when it ran out of cash, the news service said. Part of the AirUnion alliance, the carrier had about 2,500 employees and folded owing an estimated $10 million in back wages to its employees.”

RFERL reports that not nine (as state by UPI), but seventeen flight attendants stopped eating on May 14. Six of the flight attendants have been hospitalized.

In this economy, I think we all know the fear that we’d lose our jobs — but to not be paid for eight months of work? And have absolutely no power to demand it? Maybe I’d go on hunger strike, too. Well stated on Wikipedia: “A hunger strike cannot be effective if the fact that it is being undertaken is not publicized so as to be known by the people who are to be impressed, concerned or embarrassed by it.” So here I am, publicizing it. Pay your employees, KrasAir!

Former KrasAir flight attendants not participating in the strike are reportedly planning to rally today near the KrasAir offices in Krasnoyarsk.

Three travel ideas from the ITB Berlin Travel Show

by Tom Johansmeyer on

More than 11,000 exhibitors from 187 countries tried to make their mark at the 2009 ITB Berlin Travel Show. They showcased wines, highlighted unique local attractions and generally tried to show that they are the best places in the world for tourists to spend their hard-earned cash. Travel+Leisure tried to describe the industry’s hottest trends, but the article really came across as “here are a few cool things I noticed.” So, I took the coolest of the cool, below:

1. Get healthy
Plenty of destinations offer spas, yoga and fitness options – sometimes using them to theme an entire resort. But, that’s thinking small. Go all the way with medical tourism, and call those DDs your own in an overseas clinic. Before you develop visions of hacksaws and cigarettes over the operating table, some of these surgical getaways are in upscale facilities.

Hey, it’s up to you. Roll the dice.

2. Hearken back to the Cold War
Screw traditional cruise liners in favor of Soviet-era ships pushing down the Volga River. Praise Lenin, listen to a balalaika and drink Russian Standard vodka (quite good, actually). Lament how long it will take for the dictatorship of the proletariat to emerge.

There are other unusual cruise options out there as well – such as one in Laos that takes 28 passengers into a once inaccessible piece of the Mekong River from Vientiane.

3. Watch a new nation rise
Kosovo doesn’t have much to say for itself except that you should be patient, because the country’s just getting started. So, if you go there now, you’re getting in on the ground floor. Get to know the concierge. Tip him well. You’ll become a national hero.

Barneo Ice Station Opens

by Kraig Becker on

In another spring tradition, the Barneo Ice Station has opened for another season, providing the gateway for adventure travelers and explorers to make a “last degree” journey to the geographic North Pole from the Russian side of the ice.

The ice station sits roughly 60 miles from the Pole at 89º N. Latitude, and each year it has to be rebuilt thanks to the shifting ice flows at the top of the world. The process begins with two Russian built Hind helicopters scouting the region for relatively flat, smooth surfaces on the ice. Once the location is selected, the first supplies, along with a team of engineers, hits the area to go to work creating a runway. Once that runway is finished, large supply planes can land on the surface, and a full blown camp, including a Russian post office, is established.

Shortly after the camp is officially opened, visitors begin to arrive. Some are polar tourists who will make an expedition to the North Pole on skis, while others are scientists and environmentalist that come to study the area, and the effects of climate change on the health of the ice, as well as the creatures that live there.

Generally the station closes down at the end of April or early May at the latest. It is just there long enough to support the teams, and then everything is packed back on to the supply planes and shipped off for another year, when the process will begin again. But for a few short weeks each spring, it becomes a hub of arctic adventure.