Ricky Butler

13. There'll be so many experiences in those ten days that it's hard to know which will be the greatest moment. But I guess the launch is what I'm looking forward to most. There can't be many things as exhilarating as being in a rocket as it flies out of the at­mosphere. The first experience of weightlessness and seeing the Earth from outside the atmosphere; those are going to be incredi­ble too, but maybe not quite so thrilling.

14. I wouldn’t be human if I didn`t. Because I`m not a military pilot or even a professional test pilot – this isn`t something I do every day, you know. But I`ve done months of training alongside real astronauts, so I hope I`m up to the challenge.

15. Very much so. The spaceship is extremely small and so every seat has a set of controls in front of it. I`ll be handling the systems that are controlled from the right-hand seat: for example, radio, TV, and some of the navigation systems. The flight commander sits in the centre and can take over from me on those functions if necessary, but hopefully I`ll be a fully-functioning member of the crew.

16. Some of the survival training, you know, when we`re prepared for an unexpected landing in the sea or in an extreme winter climate, has been physically very challenging. Much worse than the training for weightlessness, although that was pretty tough, too.

17. Actually, I see it very much as a life experience. People use the term ‘space tourism’ to describe what I`m going to do, but actually it`s a bit misleading. I`ve been training flat-out for twelve months and I`ll be working flat-out every day that I`m up there. So I`m going to need a real holiday when I come back.

18. I`ll be looking at different ways of measuring the energy an astronaut uses during a space flight, and how that affects the muscles. But the astronauts all tell me that the one thing they wished they`d had more of up there is free time. So I`m going to make sure that I have some, at least.

19. Well, the price is a bit steep at the moment which cuts a lot of people out, and then you`ve got to go through months of training. I mean, not everyone`s up to that, physically, nor can they spare the time, and it can be frustrating for people. I mean, I was fortunate because if you don`t make it through the training, basically they don`t let you go.

20. The best advice I can give is to say: “Just keep patient”. I mean, space travel`s going to become far more accessible, sooner or later, and I reckon it’s going to be sooner than people think. I`m confident that with so many companies keen to organize trips, this market’s going to open up considerably. I couldn`t tell you what it might cost, but I am confident that within 10 years, I’ll be able to buy a ticket and fly up there again without having to go through such a complicated training procedure.