Jan 31st 2012, 10:56 by J.K.
“We are now ready to take this giant leap forward to ensure peace of mind and well-being of all our future space-travelling customers.” With that, German insurer Allianz late last year announced plans to offer travel insurance to space tourists. It expects to sell its first policies this year, in time for the launch of commercial space flights.
All manner of newfangled spacecraft will be blasted towards the heavens this year. The highest-profile “spaceline”, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, will launch crucial test flights in 2012 before paying customers blast off next year, at $200,000 per passenger. Some 430 people are booked for launch from Virgin’s spaceport in New Mexico, some of whom surrendered their $20,000 down-payments in 2004. Despite repeated delays, a recent rise in British-accented English on the streets of Las Cruces is seen as a sign that the official launch is indeed imminent. The equivalents of low-cost carriers are also appearing on the scene; XCOR and Armadillo Aerospace are both taking bookings for around $100,000 per passenger, with test flights scheduled throughout 2012 and potential commercial launches in late 2013.
Equally exciting, if less glamorous, will be the maiden voyages of spacecraft at the blue-collar end of space travel. Under a contract with NASA, SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation will send the first privately-built ships to the International Space Station in 2012. SpaceX’s unmanned supply craft, the “Dragon” capsule, is scheduled for launch in the Spring, while Orbital’s “Cygnus” craft will take off in the Autumn. If Virgin Galactic is the luxury yacht of the cosmos, these are the tugboats.
The biggest space story so far in 2012, however, comes from an unlikely source: Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. His recent pledge to build a permanent moon base if elected—coincidentally fleshed out ahead of today’s primary in "space-mad Florida"—is generating plenty of headlines. Mr Gingrich extols the lunar outpost as a boon to the tourism industry as well as a source of potential mineral wealth. But why would holidaymakers pay to go all that way to visit an open-pit mine? The insurance premiums alone would be astronomical.
This blog accompanies The World in 2012, our almanac of predictions for the year ahead. The blog is named after the mythological Cassandra, who was cursed by Apollo to make prophecies that were accurate, but disbelieved
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Surely, you are right with this point. I think all consumers will not make their criteria become real for insurance shopping since there are lots of choices.
"why would holidaymakers pay to go all that way to visit an open-pit mine" - hmmm maybe because it involves travel through SPACE?! Maybe because its on THE MOON. I know that I would certainly go.
Give the probable cost of travel insurance for moon voyages, I predict that waivers will be much in evidence when they start.
Newt should have pledged to build a base on Mars.
From waht I recall hearing Newt, the gist was that once there will be 13000 americans on the Moon, they will be allowed to declare statehood and then apply for admission to US.
Hence, the Moon will be ours only to keep in perpetuity... or until the Occupy New Florida movement will declare independence.