Private space exploration has become the ultimate vacation for the ultra-wealthy.

by Clay Gaynor

The Soyuz TMA spacecraft readying for launch.

The final frontier was once accessible only to a highly trained, elite few: astronauts and cosmonauts. Vienna, Va.,-based Space Adventures, a commercial space flight group, is changing that. Theoretically, private space exploration is available to anyone; but besides astronauts, it’s still only  available to an elite few: the very wealthy. Case in point: Charles Simonyi, the billionaire former Microsoft engineer who recently spent 14 days on the International Space Station (ISS) during a privately funded mission facilitated by Space Adventures. The company’s next mission is scheduled for fall 2008. Interested?WL tells you what it takes