Read the text about the first space tourist and the future of space tourism. For each blank choose the correct word or phrase!


On Saturday, April 28th 2001, a 60-year old multi-millionaire from New York was sitting on board a Russian spaceship. He was on a to the International Space Station. It a routine trip for the two cosmonauts who were travelling with him, but for the millionaire it was certainly no trip.

Dennis Tito was the first tourist in space, and he had paid a of $20 million to get there. As the spacecraft left the earth's atmosphere, Tito a glass of fruit juice and looked down at the earth's blue-green . Two minutes later, he was sick. Luckily, it was only a problem. He recovered soon and from then on a smooth journey. When he arrived at the space station, there was a big smile on his face. "A great trip!", he commented. "I loved it".

For a long time, space travel was for heroes. But experts say all this is going to change. Businessmen are large sums of money in space travel. Tito's is just the beginning. "We are going to see regular space tourism in the next 30 years," says Charles Miller, director of a company called ProSpace.

His company, together with many others, want space and space travel to to the public, not just the governments. There are other plans, like cruises through space from one side of the world to the other. Maybe we will be able to depart from New York at nine in the morning and an hour later in Tokyo. Such a schedule the business travellers to return to New York on the day, and still have eight hours for a meeting! How's that for speed?