Space Adventures

Eric C. Anderson is the president and CEO of Space Adventures. He co-founded Space Adventures in 1997 with several other entrepreneurs from the aerospace, adventure travel and entertainment industries and has managed the company over the past several years, selling more than $120M in space tourist flights. He has developed and financed over $500 million (USD) in new projects for Space Adventures, including two global spaceports and the first private voyage to the moon, set to launch in 2009.
The company sells a variety of flights such as Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training and actual spaceflights. In May 2001, it sent American businessman Dennis Tito to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for a reported $20 million payment, making him the first space tourist in history. South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth did the same in April 2002 becoming the 'First African in Space'. Gregory Olsen became the third private citizen to travel to the ISS in October 2005, followed by the first female space tourist, Anousheh Ansari, who completed her 10-day orbital mission in September 2006. Microsoft co-founder and creator of Word and Excel, Charles Simonyi, became the world's fifth space tourist in April 2007.
In 2008, two people are expected to travel to the ISS: Russian parliament member Vladimir Gruzdev, and Richard Garriott, the son of scientist and astronaut Owen K. Garriott. Originally scheduled first, Garriott's trip is expected to be postponed to give priority to Gruzdev's flight.
On August 10, 2005, the company announced a project named Deep Space Expeditions Alpha(DSE-Alpha), the first planned commercial spaceflight to the far side of the Moon. Travelers will be able to experience weightlessness, view the Earth from 250,000 miles away and travel in the footsteps of space explorers Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin when they experience a close-up view of the Moon. Two commercial seats are available for the mission priced at $100 million (USD) each.
The company, along with Prodea and FSA, is currently developing a suborbital space transportation system, called Explorer. The vehicle has been designed by Myasishchev Design Bureau, a Russian aerospace organization which has developed a wide-array of aircraft and space systems.
The Explorer aerospace system consists of a flight-operational carrier aircraft, the M-55X, and a rocket spacecraft. It will have the capacity to transport up to five people to space.
In February 2006, the company announced it was developing commercial spaceports in the United Arab Emirates and Singapore with plans to expand globally. The UAE spaceport is to be located in Ras al-Khaimah, located less than an hour drive from Dubai. In addition to suborbital spaceflights, Spaceport Singapore will operate astronaut training facilities and a public education and interactive visitor center. Spaceport Singapore visitors will be able to experience Zero-Gravity flights, G-force training in a centrifuge, and simulated space walks in a neutral buoyancy tank.
On July 21, 2006 the company announced that they would begin offering a spacewalk option to their clients traveling to the ISS. The addition of the spacewalk, which would allow participants to spend up to 1.5 hours outside of the space station, would cost about $15 million and would lengthen the orbital mission approximately six to eight days. The spacewalk would be completed in the Russian designed Orlan space suit. The training for the spacewalk would require an extra month of training on top of the six months already required.