A  man from south China's Shenzhen City has become the first Chinese to book a seat aboard a sub-orbital spacecraft for a flight to the edge of space in 2006 — for US$98,000.

The man, identified only as Mr. Jiang, has been living in Shenzhen since 1994. He received a receipt two weeks ago from the U.S. company Space Adventures, which is helping organize the trip.

The receipt said Jiang had been admitted into the U.S. company’s top 100 astronauts club, in which 100 people from all over the world have signed up for space flights.

Jiang, who has a weakness for adventure such as mountain climbing and other exploration activities, signed up for the space trip through a Hong Kong company after the U.S. company opened the trip to Chinese citizens above the age of 18 at the beginning of this year.

The 60-minute flight will take tourists to an altitude of 100 kilometers at a maximum speed of 4,000 km per hour, where they will experience a few minutes of weightlessness and will be surrounded by a dark sky.

The offer will make space tourism a more realistic opportunity for people who are not extremely wealthy. The proposed tickets are far cheaper than the US$20 million reportedly paid by space tourists Denis Tito and South African millionaire Mark Shuttle worth for their trips to the International Space Station (ISS). For that trip, people must also undergo many months of rigorous training.

(Shenzhen Daily November 1, 2004)