Space tourism is no longer for millionaires

Companies around the world are racing to send passengers into space, and travel enthusiasts can find themselves a cheaper ticket.

In addition to the trend of traveling around the world to "collect enough countries" on their passports, the super-rich are moving towards a new trend - space tourism. This type of tourism is developed when wealthy tourists are no longer satisfied with just exploring everywhere on Earth.

The race to send passengers into space is being fiercely contested by the trio of billionaires Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk to become the leader in this field.

Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft system. Photo: Blue Origin — Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft system. Photo: *Blue Origin*

American businessman Dennis Tito was the first space tourist, paying $20 million to fly on a Russian spacecraft and spend seven days on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2001.

In 2021, both Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin made significant strides, successfully testing human flights into suborbital space. Suborbital flights are those that fall short of completing an orbit or reaching escape velocity, the minimum speed needed to escape Earth’s gravitational influence.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Space Dragon, developed with Houston-based space tourism company Axiom Space, will go even further. In 2021, SpaceX will conduct its first civilian flight, taking four tourists into space and back safely. A seat on the flights will sell for $55 million.

Virgin Galactic claims to have 800 people on the waiting list for its $868,000-a-ticket space flights. Flights are currently suspended until 2026 to await a new line of spacecraft. Blue Origin auctioned off one of the six tickets for the flight, with one customer paying $2.8 million for it.

The current attraction for space tourists is not just to make a few orbits around the Earth, but also to spend time on the ISS, being served meals and accommodation. This promises to develop a new business in the future - hotels and restaurants in space. The Russian space agency Roscosmos is also making a deal to send billionaires to the ISS.

Aspiring space travelers can opt for a less expensive option. Edyta Teper, vice president of global sales and commercial operations at Space Perspective, bills itself as the world’s first luxury, carbon-neutral spaceflight experience. The Florida-based company’s vision is to make space travel accessible to everyone, not just millionaires.

Reservations are now open for Spaceship Neptune, a pressurized vessel propelled by a giant space balloon that will fly about 30km above Earth, to the “edge of space”, where passengers can view the curve of the Earth from premium seats.

Guests can look out at the Earth through "unprecedented" large windows, be served "world-class" meals with cocktails, toilets and even wifi, according to Teper.

Passengers do not need training or coaching like space flights and this is seen as an advantage. The speed of the ship is slow, aiming for a gentle experience as passengers see their world from a different perspective.

The trip costs about $125,000. The entire flight takes about six hours. The company has sold 1,650 seats, and is booked through the end of the year, according to Teper.

Anh Minh (According to Traveller )

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