Space may be final frontier for Chinese tourists

Wealthy Chinese can add an exotic new choice to their growing list of holiday destinations -- space.

China put its first man in space in 2003, but one of the next may be paying for the privilege since a U.S. firm began commercial spaceflight services in the China market in partnership with a Hong Kong firm, newspapers said Monday.

The first Chinese customer, surnamed Jiang from the booming southern city of Shenzhen, had already put down a deposit of more than 1 million yuan ($120,800) for a zero-gravity thrill ride, the Beijing Morning Post said, quoting an executive from Virginia-based Space Adventures.

"If everything goes smoothly, he will fly into space in 2006," it said, noting that Jiang had signed up for a short sub-orbital flight that would take him to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere.

Such a voyage was one of the cheaper choices in Space Adventures' portfolio for the Chinese market, which also includes Earth orbits and accommodation on space stations, the newspaper said.

The company was not immediately available for comment.

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More than 100 would-be space tourists worldwide have paid the company sizable deposits for rides on spacecraft not even built yet.

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"Plans call for more than 20 Chinese tourists to be able to go to the United States to undergo ground-based space travel training as soon as May," the Beijing News said.

China became only the third country after the United States and Russia to put a person in space and still has lofty ambitions.  It plans to launch its second manned spaceflight, a five-day mission with two astronauts aboard, in September, state media have reported.