1st Indian space tourist

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Kottayam, Mar 16 (UNI) Famed Globetrotter Santosh George Kulangara, Managing Director of the Labour India Group, is all set to become the first Indian space tourist. Mr Kulangara would fly on board the Virgin Galactic's Space Ship by mid 2008. The Virgin Galactic is a venture of Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Atlantic.

He said he would become the 38th such passenger, the confirmation in that regard received from the Virgin Galactic two weeks back.

Mr Kulangara has visited more than 50 countries and his travelogue on his various visits is being telecast. Australia was the 50th country he visited under the famed 'Sanjaram' (Journey) program. He also got permission for filming the whole gamut of preparations and flight sequences, he said.

The list of the Astronauts would be announced in Paris on May 10 and Mr Kulangara will attend the conference.

The 35-year-old Journalist told UNI that, ''I came to know about my selection for the travel but I am excited for it not as a space traveler or as a tourist, but as a Journalist to report the event to common people. I want to share what I experience with people. It has become a part of my life.'' The three hour Odyssey will take off from Mojave Spaceport at California in the US as soon as mandatory checks on the Space Ship are done, most likely by mid 2008. The Virgin Galactic had already test-flown its SpaceShipOne to announce its Space tourism project.

''There will be three days of pre-flight preparations. This will equip us with necessary basic knowledge for the travel. On completion, they will gift me with Astronaut wings'', Mr Kulangara said.

Mr Kulangara and his co-voyagers would first be taken to a height of 50,000 ft in the Spacecraft attached to a specially designed Jet carrier. The scramjet technology would take them to space at thrice the speed of sound from that height to float in zero gravity environs. After a three-hour quiet swim through sub orbital darkness, the Spacecraft would deorbit to re-enter earth's atmosphere.

The trip's cost is an estimated two lakh US dollars. Mr Kulangara has already paid 20,000 dollar as the first installment. National channels had approached him for sponsoring the programme, he said, when asked for the source of the money.

There will be six travelers on board the Space Ship besides two pilots.

The present intention of the organisers was to operate the Spaceship once in a week and later on a daily basis.

The Space Ship would operate from Mojave Space port and later from its own Spaceport from England.

This is Sir Richard's first commercial space ship. His aim was to send 3000 persons to space in five years.

''I have already traveled to almost all important countries. I was thinking about what would come when next, when I came to know about the space tourism project. I contacted them in 2004 but they said they were not taking any booking. In August last year, I contacted them again and I booked my place, he said.