Indian, Filipino, Egyptian win free trip to space

An Indian, a Filipino and an Egyptian are among 23 lucky people across the world to have won a free trip to space.

Vinay Singh, a 27-year-old ad executive in Mumbai (India), Daniel Angelo ‘Chino’ Roque, a 22-year old Crossfit trainer and De La Salle University psychology graduate from Manila (Philippines), and Omar Samara, a 32-year-old mountaineer from Cairo (Egypt) are among the 23 people who have been chosen following a rigorous physical and mental test involving more than 120 space enthusiasts from 60 countries.


The Axe Apollo Space Academy competition in the US state of Florida rigorously pitted the contestants against each other on mental aptitude tests, combat training in a fighter jet and zero-gravity flights to distinguish themselves as the most worthy of one for one of the coveted tickets to space with Space Expedition Corporation under a project by the makers of Axe Apollo body spray.

The competition aims to launch the 23 winners into Earth’s outer orbit on a private spaceship built by the US firm XCOR Aerospace and operated by the tourism firm Space Expedition Curacao (Space SXC). Tickets for the flight are normally set at about Dh350,000 ($95,000) or Dh365,000 ($100,000).

The commercial space plane is expected to begin flying customers in 2014 or 2015. The flight to space will be launched in the US, most likely from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Centre. This was also where the first manned flight to the moon took off in July 1969.

Famous astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man who set foot on the moon after Neil Armstrong during Nasa’s Apollo 11 mission in 1969, joined Axe to promote the competition. “Space travel for everyone is the next frontier in the human experience,” he said.

Along with another 20 winners from around the world, Singh, Chino and Samara passed all the physiological and physical examinations, including space-simulating challenges, qualifying them to embark on the journey.

The Axe Apollo winners are:

Tim Gibson (Australia)

Marco Gorrasi (Brazil)

Théo Abbaci-Nel (Canada)

Qing Guo (China)

Felix Stach (Deutschland, Austria and Switzerkand, or DACH)




Omar Samra (Egypt)

Cyril Garnier (France)




Vinay Singh (India)

Rizman Adhi Nugraha (Indonesia)

Takanobu Yoneya (Japan)

Jordi Ollebek (Netherlands)

Hamish Fagg (New Zealand)

Tale Sundlisæter (Norway)


Daniel Angelo ‘Chino’ Roque (Philippines)

Denis Efremov (Russia)

Róbert Vokál (Slovakia)

Mandlenkosi Maseko (South Africa)

Eduardo Luruena (Spain)

Pirada Techavijit (Thailand)

Halil Kayıkçı (Turkey)

Oliver Knight (UK)

Patrick Carney (US)

Thanh Long Vu (Vietnam)