Space travel insurance comes at a price06/26/2007
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
For anyone considering a shot in space but who worries about insurance problems, put your mind at rest.
Japan's first space traveler life insurance will be offered from April next year.
The insurance is a joint initiative between JI Accident and Fire Insurance Co., an affiliate of JTB travel agency, and Lloyd's Japan Co., the Japanese arm of Lloyd's of London, the specialist insurance firm.
The two companies agreed to underwrite the insurance because policies for conventional overseas travel do not cover trips into space, company officials said.
The premiums will cost between 5 million and 7 million yen for coverage of 100 million yen, or 10 million to 20 million yen for 200 million yen in coverage, they said.
The new insurance will be targeted at people taking trips organized by Space Adventures Ltd. of the United States.
JTB has held the exclusive right to sell the company's space trips within Japan since October 2005.
According to JTB officials, 11 people in Japan have already purchased $102,000 (12.6 million yen) tickets for space trips set for launch in late 2008 through 2009.
They will board spacecraft in either the United States or Russia, before making the 90-minute trip into space and back. Passengers spend several minutes in space during each of the trips.
Insurance for space travel has already been offered in Britain and Russia, Lloyd's Japan said.(IHT/Asahi: June 26,2007)
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