Space Ship Landing tour: a new trend in a space tourism

A successful space ship launch has always been a big event. When a 100-meters tall and slender rocket soars into the open sky, it is a big win of all who was involved in this project: designers, engineers, training staff, medics… Now the rocket launch is no more classified: it is open to public and can officially be watched in Baikonur spaceport. Tourists with their tears on a face, see off the rocket, flying away.

Two days ago we found out that everything is safe and sound and the ship with astronauts and cosmonauts onboard docked to the ISS station. Now this is a victory, you may say! Yet, it is not. An ISS expedition considers successful only when the ship safely landed and crew comes back safe and sound.

The landing of a space ship is a very crucial and careful thing. Preparations begin 40 days before the landing date. The Space Mission Control center along with ground services calculate trajectories of all possible ways of landing – 13 in total, and all of them are located in prairies of Kazakhstan Republic – a former part of the Soviet Union. One day before the landing date trajectories are to be corrected according to the current ISS and Earth location. The crew locks the hatches and get ready for a descend.

During our Space ship landing tour you will witness how the ground services, NASA and ROSCOSMOS employees deploy search and rescue mission, how ground services draw a weakened ISS crew, and will see cosmonauts just like that – sitting in front of you! Our tour is a unique and unforgettable adventure and one of the popular ways of a space tourism.

The tour will take place right among the borderless steppes of Kazakhstan. When the space ship enters the lower layers of the Stratosphere (6-7 kilometers) the crew contacts the rescue services. They, on a basic of an updated information from the cosmonauts and make final adjustments to the landing trajectory. On a height of several kilometers the tourists will be able to see a canopy, colored in red and white stripes.

Right after the landing rescue teams head right to the landing site while helicopters scout ahead. The rescue team on a “Blue Bird” ATV’s surround the landed ship and help cosmonaut to come out of it. They all look tired and exhausted, but very very happy. They all so missed simple joys: the sun, wind and skies, as well as gravity force and fresh fruits! Not so long ago, on June 3^rd Anton Shkaplerov, a Russian cosmonaut, upon landing was so happy when someone bring him a full plate of sweet cherry!

When the rescue team is sure, that everything is okay, they take the crew and fly to the Jezkazgan town. After some time they moved to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center – there they can rest and undergo a recovery course.

To attend the ISS crew landing – means to experience unforgettable emotions of delight and rapture, because to watch the translation of the rescue operation is one thing, while to be in a very center of events – is completely different thing!  

Baikonur cosmodrome – one of the centers of space tourism

Baikonur was the first and the largest of spaceports in the world. It was built right in deserted steppe of the Kazakh Soviet Republic in the Soviet Union. The spaceport was intended to be strictly military site as the Soviet Space authorities were in need of a new testing area for the recently developed R-7 rocket. Construction battalions arrived in 1955 and by 1956 they established first facilities. One year later in May 1957 the first ballistic rocket (a prototype for R-7) was launched from the newly constructed spaceport.

The location of the rocket facilities was built in Kazakhstan steppe not by a chance: the special commission, directed by Sergey Korolyov, the founder of Soviet Space mission program, were tasked to choose a place for the future testing area. The commission, after some discussing, decided that the area should be plain, located many miles away from the populated areas, have safe water supplies and railway not far from the facilities of the spaceport. The commission selected three possible locations for the spaceport: 2 on the territory of modern Russia and one in Kyzylorda region, Kazakh Soviet republic. Finally, the commission has to abandon the first two options, since the spaceport required even larger territories for powerful radio stations which will be able to guide rockets.

On 4^th of October 1957 the world was shaken by the huge Soviet success: first Earth artificial satellite was put to the planet orbit by an R-7 rocket, launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. The space era had begun!

4 years later, on April 12^th  1961 the R-7 rocket delivered the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin to the space. He became the first man, who made it to the space. Later the “launching site num. 1” was renamed in “Gagarin site” in honor of the legendary man.

The spaceport gradually became larger, the facilities and pads were constructed. Now the area of the spaceport estimates more then 6 000 square kilometers.

Nowadays the Baikonur is still keeping its leading positions in space launches. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan became independent state and Russia had to rent Baikonur along with its surrounding territories till 2020. The Baikonur, once classified area, became a center of the space tourism – every year hundreds of tourists come to watch manned space launches, visit cosmodrome’s facilities and especially its “launching site num. 1”.

The closest manned launch is scheduled on 11^th of October – the tourists can see off ISS crew before their departure to the station and watch the launch of the “Souyz-MS” rocket. You can find more detailed information about Baikonur tour here.

Visit the spaceport and touch the history of the space exploration!

L-39 and Zero Gravity: top adventures of this summer

Its almost over the mid of the summer, and you are probably still thinking about your vacations. You may think that, considering the FIFA World Cup 2018, which was hosted by Russia this year, is over, you should probably drop an idea to visit Russia this year. Those, who had wanted to support their national teams or visit Russia, already did it. Those, who were scared by the media, formenting an atmosphere of fear and inhospitality which allergedly was created by ill-famous Russian hooligans before the beginning of the WC, never did it. Although the media giants had changed their opinions towards Russia hosting FIFA Cup, you might say: "May be next next time". Hovewer, this idea is wrong and we will tell you why.

There is a lot of things, that you should see, while visiting Russia: see the sights, enjoy Russia's great architechture and hospitality (yes, Russian people is famous for its hospitality, actually!). But we are offering something more, then just "standard" set of touristic options: we provide unique, breathtaking experience, powerful emotions and amazing mood! Meet the two top-adventures of this summer: L-39 flights and Zero Gravity flights!

So, lets first look closely on L-39 "Albatros" training jet fighter. Dont be confused by the term "training": it is a fully functional two-seated jet. The leading pilot drive the airfighter, while you enjoy the flight. As we already mentioned in our previoous post, L-39 is a training jet fighter, which is able to perform practically every aerobatic figures: "barrel', "loop", "combat turn", "reverse "immelman", "hammerhead", "inverted spin" and others, well, of course if you have enough courage and steel in your stomach to endure it! You can choose either light reflaxing flight or insane flight, full of aerobatic maneuvers. It all up to the possibilies of your body!

Before the flight you will have to listen to the safety briefing, the pilot will tell you about the jet, its possibilities, you will learn how to use flight and communication equipment while in the air, how to read the dashboard in your cockpit and so on.

The flights are conducted not far from Moscow, about 200 kilometers away.

Second thing is the Zero Gravity flight. Zero Gravity flight is an element of a mandatory training for Russian cosmonauts. The idea of the flight: you get onboard the special IL-76 MDK aircraft. The plane climbs to the altitude of 6,5 kilometers up, then accelerate to the 9,5 kilometers and quickly goes down back to the mark of 6,5 kilometers. During the whole flight (takes 1 hour and 20 minutes) the maneuver is repeated up to 10 times. Few moments before the plane reaches the apex point of 9,5 kilometers and sometime after, while it descends down, the equipment installed inside the IL-76 aicraft imitate real Zero Gravity conditions.

Tourists inside feels just fine! Some tourists fly over the interior, some perform flip. Everything is up to you, during the Zero Gravity! The flights are conducted not far from Moscow, in the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

The summer has a very nasty feature: it passes pretty quickly. So, if you were working hard for a couple of years and want to go crazy duriung your vacation, our adventures are one of the best choices!

The incredible adventures in Russia: flight on real jet fighters for civilian tourists!

Hello, dear Blog readers!

It’s been a while since we published a post about incredible space and air adventures in Russia. The most thrilling and breathtaking adventure that you can ever get in Russia is, of course, a MiG-29 flight. For those, who is unaware or occasionally visited our blog, let us remind what a MiG-29 is: it is a modern jet fighter, being still in service in Air Forces of Russia and other ex-Eastern bloc countries. Well, those, who know what MiG-29 is, probably won’t learn anything new.

Unfortunately, our famous and desirable MiG-29 flights are temporarily unavailable. Although it is impossible to fully replace amazing MiG-29 flights, we can offer a flight experience on L-39 “Albatros” training jet flight.

MiG-29 is a high maneuverable and speed jet. Pilots have to go through a serious training before allowing to get behind the steering. After hours of classes and dozens of exams, flight cadets are allowed for practice. One of the basic jet fighters that are still used to train ongoing generations of military pilots is a L-39 training jet fighter.

A first prototype of L-39 “Albatros” was developed by Aero Vodochody plane producing concern (ex-Czechoslovak republic). The jet performed its first flight on 4^th of November, 1968. After series of tests and improvements a jet conducted its regular flight in 1972 and several years it was adopted by Czech Air Forces as a light combat jet. The fighter was so successful, that its production was ended only in 1999. From the early years of production, an L-39 was considered as a full fighting jet, and even after the concern officially ceased its production, it continued to support and maintain jets. In two following decades several modifications of jets were designed and the concern has plans to produce limited amounts of modified versions of L-39 till the end of 2020. Now it is still in service in more than 30 countries all over the world.

L-39 was exported in many countries. But it became widely spread in Soviet Union as a training jet. Cadets of flight academies would go through initial training during day and night, basics of dog fighting and ground attacking.

In recent years L-39 is often used in civilian life. The jet could be seen on a different air shows: for example, during the Max Show a performance of the “Rus” – a Russian aerobatics team - one of the features of the international MAX Air Salon, that was held not far from Moscow in 2017.

Unfortunately an L-39 jet fighter is unable to climb in Stratosphere like its older relative – a MiG-29 – but still you can get a gripping flight experience. There are three types of flight, that is available for ordinary tourists:

•    30 minute flight, including aerobatics. The price is 3500 Euro;
•     60 minute flight, including aerobatics. The price is 5500 Euro;
•   Pair flight with an imitation of a dog fight – 6500 Euro.

The flights are conducted in Russia, not far from Moscow.

If you’re interested in flights, want to learn about health restrictions and other details, please contact us by email: jet@tour-space.com and adventure@tour-space.com.

The sky is waiting for you!

Zero Gravity - now not only for astronauts!

Since the childhood many of us dreamt about floating in weightlessness. The profession of an astronaut or cosmonaut seemed so desirable in the childhood. And its no wonder: endless, dark space was so mysterios. And the person who explore it - astronaut or cosmonaut - was a true hero in our eyes.

But later, while growing up, we change our profession dreams to something more prosaic: entrepreneur, lawyer, designer...

And now we're adults. Does it mean that we should abandon our dreams? 

No, we shouldn't! It is not necessary to be a professional astronaut to get in the real Zero Gravity. And no, we're not talking about becoming a space tourist and spending a huge amount of money and time. It is even more than that: you don't have to leave Earth surface!

Trainings in Zero Gravity 

Zero Gravity flights are the essential part of astronaut or cosmonaut training program. Before going into real space, future cosmonaut should learn and feel how the Zero Gravity affects their bodies. During trainings, cosmonauts also learn to perform various actions with space equipment in the absence of gravity during the flight

Such trainings are conducted in Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC), which is located in Russia, Moscow. Zero Gravity conditions are created onboard a special laboratory plane IL-76 MDK. The aircaft moves on parabolic trajectory and special equipment inside the plane allows to simulate weighlessness.

Zero Gravity flights are available not only for cosmonauts and astronauts, but also for ordinary tourists with regular income - you don't have to be a dollar billionaire to realize your childhood dream.

GCTC is located in 30 km away from Moscow - so the whole adventure could be performed in just two days. During the first day you will listen to the briefing about Zero Gravity, go through a medical check-up and visit GCTC - the heart of the cosmonautics in Russia. On the second day you will experience the Zero Gravity flight itself. During the flight, mo

re than 10 modes of weightlessness are performed, during which you can perform acrobatic tricks and fly like a Superman!

At the same time, 14 people can participate in this adventure. Therefore, flying in Zero Gravity is a great opportunity to arrange an unforgettable journey for you, your friends or your family members! Zero G flight can be an original gift for birthday and any other holiday!

Extreme adventures in zero gravity is one of the most popular types of tourism today. Recently, space tourism has been actively developing and an increasing number of people are interested in it. Still — after all now their dream of space and space adventures can be realized!

MiG-15 flight: ride a Legend!

World of jet fighters is exciting and amazing and opens a lot of interesting facts and opportunities. For example, MiG-29 jet fighter can get you to the Stratosphere which is almost 18 kilometers from the Earth ground.

The history of jet fighters is long and vast, but nevertheless exciting. While MiG-29 is quite modern fighter, there were true legends, which emergence revolted aviation world. One of such is MiG-15 –Soviet (Russian) jet fighter.

MiG-15 was developed in 1947 and was first successful serial jet fighter in the USSR. On 1949 MiG-15 was put on the product line. In 1950 Soviet authorities made a decision to interfere into the Korean war. The hostilities on the Korean peninsula became a first proving ground for the newly developed jet fighter.

MiG-15 showed impressive results in the Korean war and quickly became an uneasy challenge for American pilots with their Sabres jet fighters. As all aviation regiments started to receive new jet fighters in 1950-ies, cadets, and even skilled pilots needed to master MiG-15. The Mikoyan bureau began to develop special training modifications for MiG-15, which had to have a seat for a second pilot. This modification was named MiG-15 UTI (“Uchebno trenirovochny istrebtel”) which stands for “A  jet trainer” or, according to the NATO classification, “The Midget”.

MiG-15 jet fighter had so successful design, that is was later replaced by Mig-17 which was basically a modernized version of Mig-15.

More than 15 thousand MiG 15s were produced in USSR and its satellites. Although the fighter was removed from a product line a very long time ago, some countries like Northern Korea are still using it as an actual military aircraft.

If you want to ride a legendary aircraft, you don’t have to move to Northern Korea and hijack a military MiG-15!

Just contact us, come to Moscow and enjoy your amazing flight! 

Corporate Zero Gravity event was finished

Today, on the 22^nd of November a mixed group of tourists successfully finished their flight in Zero Gravity!

Zero Gravityflight took place in Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center – one of the world most unique “universities” for cosmonauts and astronauts. The flight program included 2 days. During the first day flight participants went through a medical check-up and theoretical instruction. On the second day tourists enjoyed their flight. The whole flight took 1 hour and 20 minutes. During the flight onboard the laboratory plane IL-76 MDK 10 Zero Gravity modes were imitated, 28 seconds each. IL-76 MDK laboratory plane is Russian aircraft designed especially for cosmonaut trainings.

Mixed group of flight tourirsts, as usual, was multinational: tourists from Russia, China and Switzerland come to GCTC to participate in the wonderful adventure organized by our company! However this time we also hosted a corporate event for the famous Chinese company. We arranged an exclusive program for them, including space trainings on such simulators as Vykhod-2, Souyz, Don-Soyuz, Tsf-7 Centrifuge, “Space food” and practice in a “Sokol” space suit.

All tourists were a little bit tired but happy! Despite some unpleasant weather conditions everything went smooth and fine!

The flight was organized by the “Country of Space Tourism” travel agency – leading aviation and space tour operator in Russia. Space tourism is growing its in popularity among ordinary toursists! Our other space adventures: Mig-29 flights, Baikonur tours, 

Please join our adventures - as other tourists did - and get new amazing emotions and impressions!