Looking for something to boast about this Canada Day? Here's a tidbit for you: a Calgary teen is about to become the youngest person to ever go into space.
The 17-year-old boy is among 440 space "tourists" who have already purchased tickets on an interstellar flight on billionaire Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceships. The teenager, who chose to remain anonymous, is waiting for final tests to be completed before he embarks on his adventure through the cosmos.
While most teenagers would be happy getting their driver's licence at 16, this young Calgarian has loftier hopes when it comes to travelling from A to B. His agent, Michael Broadhurst, says his client "had the money for the space trip put down for him when he was 16. He's 17 now and he will fly at 18."
As the only under-18 passenger on the list, the teen has to wait for his birthday to roll around before he can be admitted on the Virgin Galactic flight. But it may well be a few years before he is ready to take part on the magnificent voyage.
In the meantime, his family have refused interviews. According to the Space Today website, Russian cosmonaut Gherman Titov holds the current record as the youngest person to go to orbit. He was 25 when he flew in August 1961.
Apparently 23 Canucks — 17 men and six women, many of them hailing from Calgary — are due to join the teen on reserved Virgin Galactic flights, which reportedly cost $US200,000 a "seat".
The travellers are an eclectic international group: from entrepreneurs to adventure lovers, to the uber-rich who are going "because they can afford to do almost anything".
Confirmed flyer, 56-year-old Torontonian, Stephanie Anevich, admits she never thought of becoming an astronaut. "It's never been in my blood,'' she said. ''I don't even like roller-coasters. I don't like going up in them. They scare me."
So far deposits for the flights total $55 million. After being launched from a mother ship, a two-piloted rocket plane would take six tourists about 110 kilometres above Earth, where they would briefly experience weightlessness.
Branson estimated that the first flight will take place in about a year's time.
"Obviously we want to be 100 per cent sure that we got every single little safety detail right," he added. "But the moment we're ready to go, we'll be going."
Branson predicts that the cost of space travel will become more affordable in time.
If you could afford a ticket, would you go?
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