CLAIM YOUR PLACE IN SPACE

If being part of the first commercial space trip sounds like something only the ultra-wealthy might actually do, think again. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has a competition going on right now that will award a trip into space, billions not required.

Called the Claim Your Place In Space contest, KLM is giving us the chance to be in Curacao on January 1, 2014, when the first commercial space trip takes off. (click below to read m ore)



First, on April 22, KLM goes to the Nevada desert to launch a special high altitude balloon that will carry cameras and GPS tracking equipment to monitor the mission. Your part in the deal: guess how high the balloon will get before it pops.

Get it right (or have the closest estimate) and win a flight for two to Curacao, stay at a luxury hotel then board the SXC Lynx spaceship for a free ride.

"If you win, you win big," says KLM on its dedicated Claim Your Place In Space website(takes a while to load but worth it). "An all-inclusive ticket to space aboard the SXC Lynx ... will rocket you 103 km (64 miles) up into space at 4 G's of thrust."

Win the prize, worth $95,000, and "you will see the earth as you never have before and experience complete weightlessness."