Out of This World Journey Awaits Wealthy Travelers

SEATTLE — Hey, Rocket Man! Got your bags packed?

Zegrahm Expeditions is taking reservations for trips on a rocket-powered cruiser that would fly 62 miles above Earth--far enough from the planet’s gravitational pull to achieve weightlessness for about two minutes.

The Seattle company started taking reservations Oct. 20 and says it has at least 15 people who have put down a $5,000 deposit on the $98,000 trip.

Plans call for the voyages to start in 2001, when Zegrahm plans to schedule two departures a week, with six passengers along on each “space experience,” said Scott Fitzsimmons, vice president of the subsidiary Zegrahm Space Voyages.

Program manager Chris Ostendorf said participants will spend two days at a space institute and three days in advanced astronaut training. The flight itself will take 2 1/2-3 hours.

The company and its partners--including the Vienna, Va.-based aerospace company Vela Technology--have come up with a design for small jet-like vehicles, powered by rockets, that will take paying passengers above the ozone layer, where the sky turns black.

Testing of the rocket engine is underway, and manufacture of two ships is to start next year, Fitzsimmons said. He declined to disclose costs.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been wary of carrying civilians since the 1986 Challenger explosion that killed seven astronauts, including teacher Christa McAuliffe.

But there’s a burgeoning private industry--and a cash incentive. The St. Louis-based X Prize Foundation is offering $10 million for the first privately financed operation that ferries people into space.