The last time he went (in 2007), Simonyi paid roughly $20 million to participate in a lower back muscle study, map the station's radiation environment and test HD camera components. This time around, he'll have to pay $30 million thanks to inflation and increased costs. [MSNBC]

All photos by Benedict Redgrove:

Inside Star City you'll find Gagarin idols everyhwere, full-size Soyuz mockups (top), massive Cold War era centrifuges and, often, no hot water. It is here where Space Adventures travelers like Garriott must learn to perform nearly every task that the mission's actual cosmonauts will perform, in case of emergencies (even though the most glamorous duty he'll probably end up doing is emptying the toilet).

And, eventually face this (emphasis my own):

All this is nothing compared with the TsF-18 centrifuge. Weighing 300 tons and measuring 59 feet long, it looks like a giant blue phallus. It spins at 170 miles per hour, and riders are instructed not to open their mouth while in motion because the pressure will break their jaw, according to Driga. "It is like nightmare," she adds. "Imagine being buried deep in sand and wanting to move but cannot."

Many more photos and a really nice read at: [Wired]

"Our company's goal has always been to build rocket-powered vehicles that can be flown and operated like regular aircraft," says Xcor Aerospace president Jeffrey Greason, who claims that Lynx is relatively environmentally friendly: "They are fully reusable, burn cleanly, and release fewer particulates than solid fuel or hybrid rocket motors," he claims.

Unlike the space shuttle, which shuts off its engine and glides into land, the Lynx will have the ability to fire up its engines and re-attempt landing in the event of a borked descent. Fifty test flights have been scheduled, starting in 2010, and, once fully operational, the spacecraft is expected to make several flights per day.

The company will not be selling tickets directly but, rather, will be licensing flight sales to space-adventure tourism companies. There are already plans afoot for the Lynx Mark 2, which will allow space-heads to be in orbit for longer. Funding for the project comes from the Air Vehicles Directorate of the US Air Force Research Laboratory, as well as additional sources—as yet, un-named. [New Scientist]

Space Adventures already claims to have sent tourists into space, renting out rides on a MiG-25 where passengers hold tight to air sickness bags while seeing the curvature of the Earth at 80,000 feet.

As for the upcoming space flights from Singapore, tickets are not available yet. Don't hold your breath.

Space Adventures Announces $115 Million Spaceport in Singapore [Born Rich]