May 31, 2011

TripAlertz.com Votes for Celebrities to Ride Suborbital Linx -- But Read the Fine Print

By Doug Mohney , Contributing Editor

While Virgin Galactic has Sir Richard Branson's star power to promote suborbital flight, TripAlertz.com is going to the masses to promote XCOR Aerospace's Lynx suborbital service. The online "members-only" travel community has set up a voting contest to put one of 14 celebrities into orbit -- with one voter winning a trip as well. But there's a catch to it all, because the flight won't get you astronaut wings.





The list of celebrities includes: Lance Armstrong, Joy Behar, Stephen Colbert, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon, Lady Gaga, Kathie Lee Gifford, Gayle King, Ashton Kutcher, Conan O'Brien, Charlie Sheen, Jon Stewart, Justin Timberlake and Kanye West. TripAlertz.com is careful to point out, "No celebrity has endorsed this promotion or has yet agreed to fly into space. Redemption of the trip is up to the winner ."

After signing up as one of the "members-only" travel community, voters can cast one ballet per person for up to three of the nominees. Once a star receives 50,000 votes, two winners will be announced -- the winner voter who will head to Orlando, as well as the top voted celeb who will win a ride on the Lynx suborbital spacecraft.

Individuals who want to stuff the ballot box to enhance their own prospects get additional entries for each friend they refer to TripAlertz.com, and additional entries for every dollar spent on the site's travel deals. Winners will get the same treatment as the celebrity: an all-expense paid trip to Orlando, Florida, including VIP tickets to Kennedy Space Center, a three-night premium hotel stay, meals and airfare, plus the off-planet trip.

Celebrity and winning voter will get a five night stay at the Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa during training and preparation, medical evaluation and screening, a cancellation insurance policy, and a ride aboard the Lynx Suborbital reusable space plane.

TripAlertz.com's release doesn't specify quite where the Lynx suborbital flights will take place from; presumably out of the Mojave Air and Spaceport in Mojave, California.

Well-heeled individuals who want to lock in their seats on a Lynx flight can sign up through TripAlertz.com today for $95,000 -- a 5 percent discount. If 10 or more people book seats, the price per person drops to $85,000. Flights appear to be available between November 29, 2013 and December 1, 2013, with a $20,000 deposit required. All buyers get customer service from TripAlertz Founder Brendan Murphy and the first 25 will get $5,000 in credit to apply to other TripAlertz.com offerings.

Potential customers may also want to read the fine print. The flight listed on TripAlertz.com's web site is for the XCOR Lynx Mark I vehicle, which will fly up to 200,000 feet/33 miles above the Earth. That's higher than any commercial or unclassified military jet will go, but it isn't high enough to earn astronaut wings.

new spaceport being built on the Caribbean island of Curacao

To get astronaut wings, you have to fly more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) above the earth, according to the International Aeronautical Federation. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo will fly up to 100 kilometers when it starts operation, but XCOR has to roll out the Lynx Mark II production model to reach that height. The Mark II isn't expected to be available until late 2012 at the earliest, with operations taking place out of a