This week the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved Spaceport America’s environmental impact statement, and even more important, the launch site operator’s license. These two steps are needed to turn the temporary launch facility into the United State’s first spaceport specifically designed for the space tourism industry.

Jeff Greason, president and CEO of XCOR Aerospace, has selected Jules Klar, the president of Great American Travel who founded “$5-a-Day Tours” in 1961, as the agent for flights on XCOR’s spaceplane, the Lynx Mark I—which is now under construction at the XCOR facilities at the Mojave spaceport.

Some folks are never satisfied. Not with paddling down the Amazon, tracking gorillas in Rwanda, diving to the Titanic, or hunting for meteorites in the frozen Antarctic.

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).

By Carol Pinchefsky