Space Adventures Competing with Virgin Galactic for Space Tourists

For $102,000 per person, Space Adventures, a space tourism company, is offering to launch space tourists 62 miles above the Earth - where "outer space" is said to begin -where they will remain weightless for five minutes.

$4,000 of the cost will go towards paying for cancellation insurance.

During their suborbital flight, tourists will be able to enjoy a 360 degree view of the Earth.

In comparison, Virgin Galactic is charging over $200,000 for a seat on its spacecraft.

Armadillo Aerospace will be providing the reusable launch rockets for Space Adventures' new space tourism offer. Space Adventures and Armadillo signed an exclusive partnership agreement in April 2010.

Space Adventures previously has organized space tourism flights to the International Space Station using Russian Soyuz rockets.

Virgin Galactic's first SpaceShipTwo class spaceship, the VSS Enterprise, successfully completed its first test flight over the Mojave Desert in March 2010.