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2004: A SEX ODYSSEY

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International Space Station


2004: A SEX ODYSSEY

Russia is looking to make one wealthy couple the first members of the 240-mile-high club.

In its latest attempt to develop space tourism, Russia is offering a pair of newlyweds a cosmic honeymoon on board the international space station.


For £27m - the cost of a pair of space return tickets - the couple could become the first to experience the uncharted joys of sex in zero gravity.

"It would bring the mile-high club to new heights," Space Adventures spokesman Rob Volmer told The Australian newspaper.

"The international space station is as large as a football field. There are plenty of nooks and crannies where a couple could hide.

"If Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck want to get away from it all on their honeymoon, we have the perfect solution."

Space Adventures has teamed up with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency to offer the trip and believe the first newlyweds could be in space by 2006.

The chosen couple would have to be in good physical condition and prepared to undergo a rigorous 10-month course to train for space travel, the agency said.

The pair could travel aboard the Soyuz spacecraft used by Denis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth, the wealthy businessmen who paid $£15m each to become the first tourists in space.

The Russian agency has signed an agreement for up to four more space tourists to go into orbit.

Sex has long been a space taboo. An American married couple spent eight days as cosmonauts on Russia's Salyut space station in 1992, but one always slept while the other worked.

But as regular stints on the international space station can last up to six months, the chances of cosmonauts becoming sexually involved have increased.




Last Updated: 15:25 UK, Monday January 05, 2004