Fla. athlete surgery center courts space tourists

Olympians, NFL stars and golf legends often turn to renowned sports surgeon Dr. James Andrews to restore their otherworldly skills after being injured.

Now Andrews, who has operated on athletes from Michael Jordan to Jack Nicklaus, hopes to attract would-be space tourists to his Florida surgery and rehabilitation center to hone otherworldly skills they will need on such voyages.

Potential space tourists can start arranging training immediately, said Dr. Joe Story, chairman of the Andrews Institutes surgery center. The center will do heart tests and other screenings to ensure people can withstand the G forces and other stresses of space flight, he said.

"We want to give them injury prevention and some of the things we do with our most elite athletes," he said during the center's announcement Thursday that it had partnered with Space Florida for "Project Odyssey."

The 127,000-square-foot Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, which opened in 2007, sits just off the turquoise waters of Pensacola Beach. It offers the latest athletic rehabilitation and training technology and some of the top doctors in sports medicine.

Conveniently, the institute is also just down the road from Pensacola Naval Air Station - home of the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels aerial demonstration team and the training site for the original Mercury Seven astronauts.

"This area has long been known as The Cradle of Naval Aviation," said Florida Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, who joined officials from Andrews and Space Florida, which is the agency in charge of promoting the space industry in the state.

Kottkamp said the region's history makes it an appropriate place to be part of a new era of commercial spaceflight.

"People will flock to this area from all across the globe and discover the beauty of the region and the talent you have here," he said.

Other space training would include centrifuge rides, which would likely be done at the nearby military bases, Story said.

Canadian John Criswick was among the first of more than 300 people worldwide who paid $200,000 to reserve a seat on a spacecraft being designed by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson and American aerospace designer Burt Rutan. The Virgin Galactic spacecraft is expected to launch about two years from now. The company is among several vying for the space tourism business.

Criswick, 45, said he would consider the Andrews' program if his busy schedule allowed.

"I could lose some weight," said the Ottowa-based computer gaming company CEO.

He said about the only thing he and most of his fellow space tourists have in common with the Andrews Institute athletes is the income to pay for the top-of-the-line medical evaluations.

Las Vegas space tourist Ken Baxter, 59, agreed.

Baxter said he stays in "pretty good shape," and isn't terribly worried about the short launch and re-entry when he will be exposed to forces of up to six Gs.

"The founders (of Virgin Galactic) put us through the centrifuge machine about this time last year and determined we were fit to go, so as far as I know were good," he said.

Those who have reserved seats on Virgin Galactic flights are 18 to 88 years old. The average is 55, said Virgin Galactic spokesman Stephen Attenborough.

Out of a group of 100 customers the company screened for flight fitness, only two were deemed unfit to make the voyage, he said.

"They had very specific and relatively rare medical conditions that would have made it too dangerous," he said.

While Attenborough, wasn't familiar with the planned Florida program, he envisions specialized space tourist health screening as commercial space flight evolves.

"We are anticipating there is a good market out there. We signed up some 300 people and think it will attract thousands," he said.

Project Odyssey officials said they haven't calculated exactly how much the Florida health screenings would cost and there would be a range of pricing. But Story said the cost would be appropriate for space tourists who have paid "tens of thousands of dollars" to travel into space.