How could an individual get to space?
101765
If you don't want to come back you could build a cheap (relatively speaking) rocket, strap yourself in & blast off.  The cost will still be significant, but that's relative to your own financial standing.
785087
We cannot leave our solar system until we figure out how to travel at much higher speeds than we can now.  Even if we could travel at 1/2 of light speed, it would still take 8 years to get to the nearest star.  The crew would have very little to do during the voyage.  And, they'd have to carry supplies for the 16-year round trip.  The ship would be enormous -- certainly larger than anything we have ever built.\n\nUntil we can find a way to travel at speeds faster than light, we will not be able to visit other star systems.
866927
no one lost in space- so far as we know. Russians and chinese are not known for their free press...\n\nrescue in space? depends how the guy would fall and how much extra fuel did the rescue crew have. It might be more economical to leave him be and instead of turning back- pick him up on the next orbit. But it really is a case of vectors and velocities also available space (eg close to the atmosphere) and how much air (etc) the guy has.
374485
you wont stop "falling" once you got to the ceter of the earth, but by that time you would have a bunch of speed. gravity woulnd't overcome this speed until you got almost all the way to the other side of earth - the whole way assuming earth is a perfect sphere and there is no air resistance. you would basically be a pendulum going back and forth - a pendulum or a swing stops falling in the middle but keeps going because it still has speed. air resitance would eventually slow you down until you want shorter and shorter distances and wound up in the center of the earth, then you would have to climb out. if you were smart, you would grab onto the wall the first time you reached the other side, and climb out only a short distance.\n\nalso the first guy is wrong and the 4th one is right, gravity decreases when you go into the earth - it is strongest right on the surface.
1098506
Well, you can find many web sites on spacecraft design, try that.  But, I can respond to one point.  A good spaceship will be a structure designed to be assembled in high orbit, and will not enter any atmosphere.  All of the structures necessary for high gravity atmospheric travel are useless dead mass when it come to space travel.  We are not quite to this point, but getting closer.  Check out the current Mission to Mars plans at the NASA website.  Three different launch vehicles.  That is the first step, how to get things into space efficiently.  If we get better at that, we will see more ambitious construction projects, like a permanent moon base, or a high orbit space station.
922469
I found this very easily on the Internet.  You could have done the same thing.\n\nhttp://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/universe/RADEC.HTML
272784
YESSSSSSSSSSSS  anybody can fly u just have to find the right spot. a good place to star many scientific agree is titan ( the second biggest moon in the universe which has it own atmosphere). titan atmosphere is alot more dense that the earth atmosphere ,and would make kind of easy to make ur own wings and star the fly. the second option is a discipline which many people who jump airplanes do whit especial clothes  which they put on then and can keep then flying in the air alot longer than it would be usual( u also can do this whitout any airplane).
459238
i want to be an astronaut!
39004
Its not impractical because you have perpetual motion in space get it spinning and it will spin forever at the same speed.  No friction.  Thats the only way to do it because you can create Gravity like on startrek
483445
This is not possible yet .. maybe in the future for spaces, but not right now.
1050217
You could join NASA, but I don't think they'll let you in until you at least learn to spell. Anyway, they might send you to the moon, but you would just have to come back again eventually.
1180333
All we have to do is survive long enough to expand into space. I think if we did that, it would be hard for anything to stamp out all the pockets of humans around. Especially if we could figure out how to not die as individuals.
1159810
1) Practice.  If we are to go anywhere else, we need to learn how to handle the unfriendly environment.\n\n2) Unknown intangibles.  The original space program needed small, lightweight computers to take with them in space.  Now everyone reading this is using a small, lightweight computer, rather than using a terminal to tie into a large mainframe.\n\nA return to space, for long-duration missions, could (repeat, COULD) yield new recycling methods, or improved energy-efficiency, or localized energy production.\n\nOr it may produce nothing.  It's a gamble.  But compared to other gambles that we routinely make (research into more effective weapons, that may never be needed to be used, for example), it's a comparatively inexpensive one.
414187
Yea, entering a black hole might not be the smartest idea...unless you like being compacted into a space smaller than your fingernail.
1165787
Try this:\nhttp://www.braeunig.us/space/
980237
Since its a manned flight, the space craft being heavier, it would take at least eight months or more. However, like correctly pointed out by Christoph... N, it would be a very painful ride for the space passenger. The radiations and the athropy of the muscles & bones would cause a lot of discomfort.
83781
No oxygen in space. Need to bring or make your own.\nNo gravity or very weak affects the human body in many ways, one big is it weakens ones bones(and muscles).