The young and the not so young will remember a most popular song called Fly Me to the Moon. It was sung by many artists since being written in 1954 but was made most famous by the great Frank Sinatra who put his rendition together in 1964.
In fact, it was the Sinatra version that was played on the Apollo lunar-orbital mission and then again as man landed on the moon for the first time in July of 1969. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin played it before he and Neil Armstrong actually walked on the moon.
Now, I can’t offer you a trip to the moon. But I stumbled onto a buddy who could make you a reasonable facsimile … a ride into space. His name is Michael Broadhurst and he is booking flights on SpaceShip Two, which is getting closer to being a happening by the day.
In fact, if you can believe this, more than 500 people have indicated a desire to be the first of the everyday people to venture into space.
Furthermore, at least 15 are from the Calgary area. They want to be among the first to take a public flight out of Earth’s atmosphere.
But it won’t come cheap.
Virgin Galactic is the company that’s got the program in the works and they have two deposit levels set up, based on flight priority. If you want the first available seat they recommend booking as, what they call, a pioneer. To do that they want $200,000 in American funds paid up front.
By doing that you would be looking at a space flight in the second year of operations. But they have a deal too. You can become a voyager for a $20,000 US deposit if the seat number isn’t of significant importance.
Organizers had to be thinking well ahead, because they have 451 pioneer seats up for grabs right now and 716 of the voyager seats. Why the odd numbers is beyond me, and I forgot to ask Michael the last time I saw him. I did question the high cost, why one should book now and what does it get a buyer. The explanation is that when you become a future astronaut you are becoming a part of history. Once booked, you will be kept in the loop of all things Virgin Galactic-related, receive invitations to exclusive events like Spaceport America deals and owner Sir Richard Branson’s private island to name a couple.
So, and I’m using the company push here, “your trip doesn’t start when you receive your flight number. Instead, it is an ongoing process that will keep you engaged and excited.”
Now, going back, I certainly do remember those early space flights and being glued to the television set back when live television, other than local news, was in its infancy. In fact, I can tell you exactly where I was when Armstrong made his first step on the moon and his “One small step for man” comment as he touched down. We were in a suite at Calgary’s Palliser Hotel at a Toronto Argonauts press conference the night before an Argos-Calgary Stampeders game.
Leo Cahill was the general manager of the Argos at that time and he actually decided to take a break from his talk about the Argos lineup for the next day so we could all watch history in the making. None of us could believe that it was really happening … that a man was walking on the moon.
Yet here we are today talking about Joe Average having a chance, not to walk on the moon, but to venture into space. Who would have thought it could happen?
Someone sent me a cartoon the other day that might have wrapped up young peoples’ thinking of today. It showed a couple walking down a street with the guy saying: “I’ll run over and pick up both our welfare cheques. Then drop by the university to find out what’s holding up our federal education grants. Meanwhile you go to the free clinic for a pregnancy test and if it’s positive fill out the necessary forms for assistance and baby bonus. Oh, and pick up my free glasses. And then we’ll meet at the federal building at noon for the mass picketing of the stinking establishment.”
Today’s joke was actually stolen from one of those Coffee News things you run into at a restaurant or bar that are free for the taking. It’s about an older lady mailing a large Bible to her family and being asked by the postal clerk if anything in the package was breakable. She replied: “Only The Ten Commandments.”
