美公司招宇航员 要开太空旅馆

美国一家名为“毕格罗宇宙空间”的私人太空度假游公司日前首开先河，对外公开刊登一则广告招聘专业宇航员。这家公司表示，他们计划将来在太空中开设“太空旅馆”，招聘来的宇航员则是旅馆的导游和服务人员。这家公司的创始人明确表示，他们只想要真正在太空中作业过的专业宇航员，满足这一点的人选在全球范围内只有500名。目前，该公司已经发射了2个实验性太空气闸舱至地球轨道。他们表示，未来把旅馆开到太空中，要为客户提供真正“远离尘世”的服务，月球和火星都在他们的计划蓝图之内。

An American space holiday firm, Bigelow Aerospace, has become the first commercial company to advertise for professional astronauts.

The firm, founded by Bob Bigelow, the head of a budget motel chain in the US, wants experienced spacemen working in orbit and on the ground.

Only professionals with space flight experience need apply, which limits the pool of possible applicants worldwide to little more than 500.

Applicants must also have completed a training program with a government or recognized space agency, such as NASA, and to have flown a space mission.

Mr Bigelow, from Las Vegas, already has two test models of his inflatable space modules in orbit around the Earth, launched by Russian rockets.

He plans to build orbiting hotels to provide out-of-this-world holidays and has his sights set on the Moon and even Mars too.

Bigelow's modules, which can be linked together sausage-style to form a space station, are launched in compact form and then expanded to full size.

Space duties spelt out in the job offer include:

* Performing as a professional astronaut aboard the Bigelow Aerospace Station Complex;

* Managing all on-board aspects of employee and customer astronaut personal safety;

* Maintaining the space stations inside but with some spacewalks too; and

* Helping clients with payloads or experiments.

On Earth the spacemen will train new astronauts and operate mission control.

Mr Bigelow, who made his fortune from Budget Suites of America, is aiming to bring the cost of a ticket to space down to £30,000-£60,000.

His other big ideas include a cruise ship to carry 100 passengers and 50 crew on a trip around the moon.

As well as the unspecified number of astronauts' positions the company has 44 other job offers on its website.

They are likely to appeal to NASA staff uncertain about the future after President Obama cancelled any return to the Moon.

With NASA's shuttle fleet scheduled to be retired at the end of this year and no successor craft on the near horizon, thousands of workers expect to lose their jobs.