space suits

Training to be an astronaut is not for the faint of heart. Your training includes being strapped into a contraption that whirls you around at high speeds until you're on the verge of losing consciousness. You get to ride on a plane -- affectionately referred to as the "vomit comet" -- that nosedives into a freefall to simulate microgravity. Or, you might also get to spend six hours in an underwater tank wearing a 650-pound spacesuit. Luckily, it wouldn't feel like 650 pounds, because you'd be in a state of neutral buoyancy.

If, late this month, you should happen to hear news reports of a man plunging toward Earth engulfed in flame, be assured that thousands of amateur-radio enthusiasts across the world are monitoring the situation closely. The “man” is actually SuitSat, a project conceived by the group Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) to get schoolchildren excited about space.

Astronauts on board the ISS will soon be disposing of surplus Russian Ormal space suits by releasing them into space.

As Ansari X Prize champs Burt Rutan and Paul Allen and their band of multimillionaire brothers—Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson and hotelier Robert Bigelow—close in on developing the launch vehicles and orbital habitats that will open space travel to the well-heeled tourist, one big question remains: What are you going to do up there?