(ECNS) - The rising number of so-called space travel products in China is nothing more than marketing hype compared to similar services in other countries, the Beijing Youth Daily reported on Tuesday.
China travel website Qunar.com recently launched routes under a "space tourism" category that included skydiving, glider flights and bungee jumping. But these choices are only normal adventure activities that allow tourists to reach the troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, at most.
Another advertised adventure was "space skydiving," which claimed to allow daring tourists to wear special outfits and ride in a helium balloon to reach the stratosphere, the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere.
But an investigation found that this program would be mainly based in a training camp, rather than diving from some 16 to 50 km above ground.
Gold Ocean Space Technology, which was behind the "space skydiving" project, said three tourists would descend from 10,000 to 42,000 meters above the ground starting next year, if low-altitude tests and robot simulation proved successful.
The "space travel" routes ranged in price from 1,970 yuan ($300) for one visitor to 500,000 yuan for those who attempted to reach higher. But none of these offers could match a real voyage into space, which would result in travelers being 100 kilometers above the Earth's crust and able to experience weightlessness.
An insider said China's civilian space travel business is still in an early stage of development, despite the tremendous progress made in China's space exploration and space technology.
