Although most people who pay $20 million for an adventure vacation might want to relax and unwind during their journey, Richard Garriot, games designer and upcoming traveler to the International Space Station ( ISS), is not one of them.

Eric Anderson, CEO and president of Space Adventures, announced at a press conference today that Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, the world’s premier Internet search engine, will be Space Adventures’ next paying spaceflight participant.

The Space Adventures orbital spaceflight program is the only way for non-astronauts to visit the International Space Station ( ISS). Now, Space Adventures had brokered a deal that increases the number of spaceflight participants.

By Carol Pinchefsky

Askmen.com has kindly given us permission to quote their article, “Five Things You Didn’t Know: Space Tourism.”

EADS Astrium, Europe's aerospace conglomerate, is once again toying with the possibility of building a European piloted spacecraft. Europe's rocket scientists have tried to interest their politicians in funding piloted space projects in the past, most notably the Hermes and Saenger spaceplanes. But as spending on these programs climbed, the politicians eventually balked at completing them.

Although it costs over $20 million to visit the International Space Station, you don't need to be a billionaire to experience space tourism. There are a range of activities for a range of budgets, and they span in cost from as little as $12 up to $200,000. They might not be as fabulous as going to space, but at least they’re easier on the wallet.

Greg Olsen was the third private citizen to orbit the earth on the International Space Station ( ISS). After training for five months (900 hours) at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Moscow, he launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, the Soyuz TMA-7, on October 1, 2006, with cosmonaut Valeri Tokarev and astronaut Bill McArthur (Expedition 12). He then docked to the ISS on October 3 and returned to earth on Soyuz TMA-6 on October 11 with Cosmonaut Sergei Krikatev and Astronaut John Phillips (Expedition 11).

Since 1981, the National Space Society (NSS) has sponsored the International Space Development Conference, attracting speakers ranging from Dr. Buzz Aldrin, the second human to walk on the moon to Dr. Robert Zubrin, the man who wants us to walk on Mars. In between this A and Z have been some of the most prominent names in the development of technology, astronomy, electronics, law, space tourism, space solar power, and commercial possibilities on the next frontier.

Technologies of the Frontier (TDF), an Italian space advocacy group, is holding their second conference on June 7, 2008 in Belgirate on Lake Maggiore, Italy. Speakers include astronomers and professors, and lectures will be held in both Italian and English.