space tourism flight cost

Space Tourism: How Much Does it Cost & Who's Offering It?

Last Updated: December 17, 2022

Many of us dream of going to space and over 600 people have traveled to space as astronauts in government-funded agencies such as NASA, the European Space Agency, and Roscosmos. But how much does spaceflight cost in today and how is that expected to change in the coming years? 

With new advancements in spaceflight technology, the costs of space travel are decreasing, making the dream of spaceflight a little closer for us all.

Evolution of Spaceflight Costs and Technologies

During the space race, the cost of sending something into space averaged between $6,000 to over $25,000 per kg of weight not adjusted for inflation and NASA spent $28 billion to land astronauts on the moon, about $288 billion in today’s dollars.

In recent decades, it has averaged around $10,000 per kg though certain missions have been higher due to other factors including the destination, the size of the rocket, the amount of fuel needed, and the cost of fuel. 

After the retirement of the space shuttle program, NASA paid Russia to transport astronauts to the ISS at about $80 million per seat on the Soyuz rocket. NASA’s biggest and newest rocket, the SLS (Space Launch System) which is currently being utilized for the new moon missions including Artemis and Orion, currently costs about $2-4 billion per launch.

But recent years and the addition of private space companies have drastically changed the game. NASA allowed private space companies to develop equipment for missions, including a 2006 partnership with SpaceX under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to provide resupply for crew and cargo demonstration contracts to the International Space Station (ISS). 

This partnership has continued to flourish over the years with SpaceX successfully launching two NASA astronauts in May 2020 on a Crew Dragon Spacecraft, making SpaceX the first private company to send astronauts to the ISS and the first crewed orbital launch from American soil in 9 years.

With the revolutionary technology of reusable boosters from SpaceX, the cost has plummeted, achieving less than $1,600 per kg with the Falcon Heavy (still totaling more than $100 million per launch) and even a projected cost of under a thousand for their next generation model Star Ship.

 These recent innovations are even making SLS the more expensive, less efficient option if SpaceX’s projections continue to progress as expected within margins of error. We shall see how NASA plans to adapt goals in light of this.

The Falcon Heavy is a cost-effective option for launching payloads into space.

The rise of private space companies

With private space companies, the opportunity for civilians to book a trip to space similar to booking a flight came closer to reality. Dennis Tito was the first private citizen to pay for a trip to space with a trip to the ISS from April 28th to May 6th, 2001 for $20 million dollars. Tito purchased his experience through Space Adventures Inc. which was founded in 1998 and offers a variety of different space experiences. They even acquired Zero Gravity Corporation, NASA’s provider of Reduced Gravity Training (not in space) for its astronauts, in 2008. They offer similar experiences for private individuals starting at about $8,200 as of this publishing (December 2022).

Space Adventures sent seven other space tourists to the ISS through 2009, but due to a number of factors, Space Adventures had to put their ISS offerings on hold until 2021 when they were able to purchase two Soyuz seats due to NASA moving their contract to SpaceX. Space Adventures sent two people to the ISS via the Roscosmos Soyuz rocket in December 2021 and is working on expanding its offerings.

In addition to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, there are a number of other private space companies getting into the commercial spaceflight/ space tourism market, most notably Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origins.

Flight Providers & Rates

What are the current rates for commercial spaceflight tickets? What commercial spaceflight trips have already happened? All prices are per person/ per seat.

SpaceX has had the most experience in sending humans to space thanks to its partnership with NASA and Musk has made it clear that he wants to make space travel an option for the public. To date, SpaceX has offered two commercial spaceflight options and has one big one planned for the future:

• SpaceX completed a Multi-Day Orbital Voyage, the first of their new plan to offer private astronaut experiences through their NASA partnership.  
• Estimated $55 million for a 3-day stay inside a modified SpaceX Dragon capsule orbiting the Earth at 357 miles (574 km) with three crewmates, sponsored by billionaire Jared Isaacman to raise money for St Jude’s Children’s Hospital
• Partnership between SpaceX and Houston-based Axiom Space Inc.
• $55 million for a 10-day trip to ISS at 408 km with a weeklong (8-day) stay in the orbital lab. 
• Expected to continue in 2023
• Axiom plans to build a stand-alone space station to replace the ISS with the first module expected to launch in 2024.
• Steve Aoki: American DJ and record producer
• Everyday Astronaut Tim Dodd: American science communicator, content creator, photographer, and musician
• Yemi A.D.: Czech choreographer, art director and performer
• Rhiannon Adam: Irish photographer
• Karim Iliya: British photographer and filmmaker
• Brendan Hall: American filmmaker and photographer
• Dev Joshi: Indian television actor
• Choi Seung-hyun (stage name: T.O.P.): South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor
• Cost is unknown, likely a minimum of $500 million

2. Blue Origin

Blue Origin: currently offers a 100km 12-minute ride to the Karman Line, the recognized boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space; pricing is still unclear and dependent on a variety of factors 

• On July 2021, Jeff and Mark Bezos went into space on the New Shepard rocket with Oliver Daemen (who won the trip through an auction bid of around 28 million) and honored guest Wally Funk (a member of Mercury 13, the private program in which women trained to be astronauts but ultimately never went to space)
• Blue Origin has completed 6 commercial space flights as of this publishing. Some “honorable guests” have been invited free of charge, such as Funk and actor William Shatner (Captain Kirk from the original Star Trek). Some have been sponsored or have received special deals due to their nonprofit status.
• $28 million winning auction bid for the first flight ( $19 million was donated)
• $1 million for a board member of a nonprofit
• About $1.25 for a Dude Perfect comedy group crew member, hosted by MoonDAO in August 2022

3. Virgin Galactic Subortbital Joy Ride

Virgin Galactic Subortbital Joy Ride: $450,000 for a 90-minute ride to suborbital space 50km above sea level 

• In July 2021, founder Richard Branson flew to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere with two pilots and three other Virgin Galactic employees as the first test of commercial spaceflight for the company
• Each VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo carries up to four passengers
• Expected flights are currently anticipated to begin in 2023 
• Includes training accommodations and amenities; launches from New Mexico

4. Roscosmos/ Space Adventures Customized ISS Trip

Roscosmos/ Space Adventures Customized ISS Trip: $50-60million for a 12-day trip to the ISS at 408 km

• In October 2021 an actress and director shot scenes for the first movie filmed in space
• December 2021 Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano for two days (same billionaire planning to go to the moon with SpaceX)
• With the current situation between Russia and Ukraine, this option is effectively nonexistent currently

5. Space Perspective

Space Perspective: a six-hour balloon ride to space/ the stratosphere on their “Spaceship Neptune” at $125,000

• Rides are currently scheduled to begin by the end of 2024. 
• A pressurized capsule will be slowly lifted by a football-field-sized hydrogen-filled balloon 19 miles (30 km) into the stratosphere, about 3 times the altitude of commercial planes. 
• The passenger cabin features a bar, bathroom, and windows for sightseeing and is expected to carry 8 passengers and 1 pilot per trip.

6. Aurora Space Station (no longer in development)

Aurora Space Station was supposed to be the world’s first luxury space hotel, offering a 12-day stay for $9.5 million allowing them to free float, observe space and earth, practice hydroponics and play in a hologram deck, but they shut down operations and refunded all deposits in March 2021. They received a lot of media attention and therefore are noted here due to that notoriety.

Conclusion: the current cost of flying to space

Currently, it is only available to those who can spend an average of $250,000 to $500,000 for suborbital trips (about a fifteen-minute ride to the edge of space and back) or flights to actual orbit at more than $50 million per seat (though typically a longer trip than 15 minutes).

It could be free/ discounted if you can find a sponsor, often for nonprofit/ charity purposes, or if you are someone of notoriety that can help spread the company’s mission. 

Waitlists are available for most offerings, with a deposit, with many stretching years into the future, which might end up helping you have a spot at a more reasonable price in the future if you can save up.

Many companies are looking to provide extended stay options on private space stations in the future, similar to how you might book a flight somewhere and stay in a hotel for a few days. Again, for the immediate future, this is estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars. The biggest portion of the cost would be launching them, though it is still estimated that a couple million dollars will be needed to cover the expenses of your stay while you are on the space station, whether that is included in the ticket price or added on top of that.

Many companies are hopeful they can eventually price a trip to space down to $100,000 but that will likely take some time, even with the cost-saving measures of reusable boosters. Many forms of recent technology have evolved exponentially in recent years and with dropping price rates as well. Just as plane travel was originally prohibitively expensive, but has now become fairly reasonable for the average consumer, the hope is that the same will eventually happen with space tourism, but we will have to see how long that takes. 

While the possibility of going to space is still out of reach for many of us, hopefully, the advancements in recent years and those yet to come will help to continually lower the costs of going to space, just as has occurred in many other fields. This author, for one, truly hopes that the interest of the elite who are currently able to participate in these offerings will spur research and development, not just of space tourism but space exploration in general, to help fuel a quicker journey to space access for all

Written by Sarah Hoffschwelle

Sarah Hoffschwelle is a freelance writer who covers a combination of topics including astronomy, general science and STEM, self-development, art, and societal commentary. In the past, Sarah worked in educational nonprofits providing free-choice learning experiences for audiences ages 2-99. As a lifelong space nerd, she loves sharing the universe with others through her words. She currently writes on Medium at  https://medium.com/@sarah-marie  and authors self-help and children’s books.

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Space Tourism: Can A Civilian Go To Space?

2021 has been a busy year for private space tourism: overall, more than 15 civilians took a trip to space during this year. In this article, you will learn more about the space tourism industry, its history, and the companies that are most likely to make you a space tourist.

What is space tourism?

Brief history of space tourism, space tourism companies, orbital and suborbital space flights, how much does it cost for a person to go to space, is space tourism worth it, can i become a space tourist, why is space tourism bad for the environment.

Space tourism is human space travel for recreational or leisure purposes . It’s divided into different types, including orbital, suborbital, and lunar space tourism.

However, there are broader definitions for space tourism. According to the Space Tourism Guide , space tourism is a commercial activity related to space that includes going to space as a tourist, watching a rocket launch, going stargazing, or traveling to a space-focused destination.

The first space tourist was Dennis Tito, an American multimillionaire, who spent nearly eight days onboard the International Space Station in April 2001. This trip cost him $20 million and made Tito the first private citizen who purchased his space ticket. Over the next eight years, six more private citizens followed Tito to the International Space Station to become space tourists.

As space tourism became a real thing, dozens of companies entered this industry hoping to capitalize on renewed public interest in space, including Blue Origin in 2000 and Virgin Galactic in 2004. In the 2000s, space tourists were limited to launches aboard Russian Soyuz aircraft and only could go to the ISS. However, everything changed when the other players started to grow up on the market. There are now a variety of destinations and companies for travels to space.

There are now six major space companies that are arranging or planning to arrange touristic flights to space:

• Virgin Galactic;
• Blue Origin;
• Axiom Space;
• Space Perspective.

While the first two are focused on suborbital flights, Axiom and Boeing are working on orbital missions. SpaceX, in its turn, is prioritizing lunar tourism in the future. For now, Elon Musk’s company has allowed its Crew Dragon spacecraft to be chartered for orbital flights, as it happened with the Inspiration4 3-day mission . Space Perspective is developing a different balloon-based system to carry customers to the stratosphere and is planning to start its commercial flights in 2024.

Orbital and suborbital flights are very different. Taking an orbital flight means staying in orbit; in other words, going around the planet continually at a very high speed to not fall back to the Earth. Such a trip takes several days, even a week or more. A suborbital flight in its turn is more like a space hop — you blast off, make a huge arc, and eventually fall back to the Earth, never making it into orbit. A flight duration, in this case, ranges from 2 to 3 hours.

Here is an example: a spaceflight takes you to an altitude of 100 km above the Earth. To enter into orbit — make an orbital flight — you would have to gain a speed of about 28,000 km per hour (17,400 mph) or more. But to reach the given altitude and fall back to the Earth — make a suborbital flight — you would have to fly at only 6,000 km per hour (3,700 mph). This flight takes less energy, less fuel; therefore, it is less expensive.

• Virgin Galactic: $250,000 for a 2-hour suborbital flight at an altitude of 80 km;
• Blue Origin: approximately $300,000 for 12 minutes suborbital flight at an altitude of 100 km;
• Axiom Space: $55 million for a 10-day orbital flight;
• Space Perspective: $125,000 for a 6-hour flight to the edge of space (32 km above the Earth).

The price depends, but remember that suborbital space flights are always cheaper.

What exactly do you expect from a journey to space? Besides the awesome impressions, here is what you can experience during such a trip:

• Weightlessness . Keep in mind that during a suborbital flight you’ll get only a couple of minutes in weightlessness, but it will be truly fascinating .
• Space sickness . The symptoms include cold sweating, malaise, loss of appetite, nausea, fatigue, and vomiting. Even experienced astronauts are not immune from it!
• G-force . 1G is the acceleration we feel due to the force of gravity; a usual g-force astronauts experience during a rocket launch is around 3gs. To understand how a g-force influences people , watch this video.

For now, the most significant barrier for space tourism is price. But air travel was also once expensive; a one-way ticket cost more than half the price of a new car . Most likely, the price for space travel will reduce overtime as well. For now, you need to be either quite wealthy or win in a competition, as did Sian Proctor, a member of Inspiration4 mission . But before spending thousands of dollars on space travel, here is one more fact you might want to consider.

Rocket launches are harmful to the environment in general. During the burning of rocket fuels, rocket engines release harmful gases and soot particles (also known as black carbon) into the upper atmosphere, resulting in ozone depletion. Think about this: in 2018 black-carbon-producing rockets emitted about the same amount of black carbon as the global aviation industry emits annually.

However, not all space companies use black carbon for fuel. Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket has a liquid hydrogen-fuelled engine: hydrogen doesn’t emit carbon but simply turns into water vapor when burning.

The main reason why space tourism could be harmful to the environment is its potential popularity. With the rising amount of rocket launches the carbon footprint will only increase — Virgin Galactic alone aims to launch 400 of these flights annually. Meanwhile, the soot released by 1,000 space tourism flights could warm Antarctica by nearly 1°C !

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Commercial spaceflight is now officially a thing. But is it a transcendent opportunity for the masses, or just another way for rich people to show off?

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Private citizens have been buying their way into the heavens for decades. In the 1980s, McDonnell Douglas engineer Charles Walker became the first nongovernment individual to fly in space when his company bought him a seat on three NASA space shuttle missions. In 2001, American entrepreneur Dennis Tito dished out a reported $20 million to fly on a Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) and spend eight days floating in microgravity. 

But beyond those few flights, nothing much happened.

At least not until last year. After decades of development and several serious accidents, three companies—SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic—launched their first tourist flights in 2021. William Shatner rode a Blue Origin vehicle to the edge of space in October. Former NFL star and Good Morning America host Michael Strahan took a similar ride in December. Even NASA, which was once hostile to space tourism, has come around and released a pricing policy for private astronaut missions, offering to bring someone to orbit for around $55 million.

Okay, so it’s a new era—but what does it mean? Do these forays represent a future in which even the average person might book a celestial flight and bask in the splendor of Earth from above? Or is this just another way for the ultrawealthy to flash their cash while simultaneously ignoring and exacerbating our existential problems down on the ground? Nearly all those 2021 escapades were the result of efforts by three billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson. Branson is a mere single-digit billionaire, whereas Bezos and Musk have wealth measured in the hundreds of billions. 

“The greatly undue influence of wealth in this country—to me that’s at the heart of my issues with space tourism as it’s unfolding,” says Linda Billings, a communications researcher who consults for NASA and has written about the societal impacts of spaceflight for more than 30 years. “We are so far away from making this available to your so-called average person.”

Each spot on Virgin’s suborbital spaceplane, the cheapest way to space at the moment, will set somebody back $450,000. A single seat on Blue Origin’s initial suborbital launch sold at auction for $28 million, and the undisclosed price tag of SpaceX’s all-civilian Inspiration4 mission, which spent three days in orbit before splashing down off the coast of Florida, has been estimated at $50 million per passenger. 

Not only are such flights ridiculously far out of financial reach for the average person, says Billings, but they aren’t achieving any real goals—far from ideal given our terrestrial problems of inequality, environmental collapse, and a global pandemic. “We’re not really learning anything,” she says. “There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of thought or conscience in the people engaging in these space tourism missions.”

Laura Forczyk, owner of the space consulting firm Astralytical, thinks it’s misguided to focus strictly on the money aspect. “The narrative [last year] was billionaires in space, but it’s so much more than that,” says Forczyk, who wrote the book Becoming Off-Worldly , published in January, in which she interviewed both government and private astronauts about why they go to space.

Forczyk sees the flights as great opportunities to conduct scientific experiments. All three of the commercial tourist companies have carried research projects in the past, studying things like fluid dynamics, plant genetics, and the human body’s reaction to microgravity. And yes, the rich are the target audience, but the passengers on SpaceX’s Inspiration4 included artist and scientist Sian Proctor and data engineer Chris Sembroski, who won their tickets through contests, as well as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital ambassador Hayley Arceneaux (the trip helped her raise $200 million in donations for the hospital). Blue Origin gave free trips to aviation pioneer Wally Funk, who as a woman had been barred from becoming an Apollo astronaut, and NASA astronaut Alan Shepard’s daughter Laura.

Forczyk also cites Iranian space tourist Anousheh Ansari, who flew to the ISS in 2006. “She talked about how she grew up in a war zone in Iran, and how [the flight] helped her see the world as interconnected,” Forczyk says. 

Billings thinks the value of such testimonials is pretty low. “All these people are talking to the press about how wonderful the experience was,” she says. “But to listen to someone else tell you about how exciting it was to climb Mt. Everest doesn’t convey the actual experience.”

As with an Everest trek, there’s the risk of death to consider. Historically, spaceflight has had a fatality rate of just under 4%—roughly 266,000 times greater than for commercial airplanes. Virgin suffered two major disasters during testing, killing a total of four employees and injuring four more. “A high-profile accident will come; it’s inevitable,” says Forczyk. But even that, she predicts, won’t end space tourism. People continue to climb Everest, she notes, despite the danger.

Another question is how space tourism might affect the planet. A 90-minute jaunt on Virgin Galactic’s suborbital spaceplane is roughly as polluting as a 10-hour transatlantic flight. Other calculations suggest that a rocket launch can produce 50 to 75 tons of carbon dioxide per passenger, compared with just a few tons per passenger from a commercial airplane.

Experts warn that even Blue Origin’s New Shepard, which burns hydrogen and oxygen and emits water, could affect the climate since its combustion products are injected high into the stratosphere, where their ultimate impact has yet to be understood. 

The Federal Aviation Administration oversees all spaceflight in the US and might strengthen safety and environmental regulations. The agency currently has a moratorium on new regulations until 2023, which was designed to give the nascent industry time to develop before legislators came in with too much red tape. But few lawmakers or citizens are clamoring for more regulation. 

“There are a lot of other things for people to worry about than whether or not only billionaires get to fly in space,” says Marcia Smith, the founder and editor of the news website SpacePolicyOnline.com, which covers space programs around the world.

Nobody has yet fully articulated a compelling reason to spend enormous sums on private spaceflight. It may have incidental value for science and engineering, or offer a small number of people a sense of transcendence. 

But at the moment, it seems we do it mainly because we think it’s cool.

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Every Space Tourism Package Available in 2021 Ranked: From $125K to $60 Million

From virgin galactic's suborbital ride to spacex's multi-day orbital voyage, we've rounded up every space tourism package available..

2021 is a historic year for commercial space travel. A record number of civilian orbital and suborbital missions launched successfully: Elon Musk ’s SpaceX launched four amateur astronauts into Earth’s orbit for the first time; a Russian film crew spent 12 days on the International Space Station shooting the world’s first movie in space; and two multi-billionaires flew to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere as the first passengers of their respective space companies to show the public that their new spacecrafts are safe and fun.

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As with everything in its early stages, space tourism today is unattainably expensive (although demand appears to be strong enough to keep existing companies in this market busy for several years). But eventually, as technology matures and more companies enter the industry, prices will hopefully go down. As a space tourism entrepreneur told Observer this summer, going to space in the future “will be more and more like going to Europe.”

Below, we’ve rounded up every space tourism package that is either available now or in the near future. We have listed them in the order of price and compared them by travel duration, maximum altitude, passenger cabin amenities, and value for money—if you can afford it, that is.

Space Perspective: “Hot Air Balloon” to Stratosphere

Price: $125,000 Flight altitude: 30 kilometers What you’ll get: A relaxing six-hour ride to the stratosphere in a balloon-borne pressurized capsule. Date available: 2024 Value for money:  ★★★★ (4/5 stars)

Founded by the team that launched Alan Eustace in 2014 for his Guinness World Record space jump , Florida-based Space Perspective in June began selling tickets of its yet-to-be-licensed “Spaceship Neptune” flights.

A pressurized capsule designed to carry up to eight passengers and one pilot will be slowly lifted by a hydrogen-filled balloon the size of a football field when fully inflated to 19 miles (30 kilometers) in the sky, about three times the altitude of commercial planes. The passenger cabin features a bar, a bathroom and huge windows specially designed for sightseeing.

The balloon will hover at its peak altitude for about two hours before slowly descending to a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, where passengers and will be picked up by a recovery ship.

Because the space balloon moves at only 12 miles per hour during ascent and descent, no special training is required before the ride. Space Perspective completed a test flight in June. The company expects to begin flying paying customers before the end of 2024.

Virgin Galactic: Suborbital Joy Ride

Ticket Price: $450,000 Flight altitude:  50 km What you’ll get: A 90-minute ride to 50 kilometers above sea level in a SpaceShipTwo spaceplane. A few minutes of zero-gravity experience during descent. Date available:  Now Value for money: ★★ (2/5 stars)

If you like a more thrilling space experience provided by a company with a little bit of a track record, Virgin Galactic (SPCE) ’s 90-minute suborbital flight might be your choice.

In July, the company’s founder, Richard Branson , became its first passenger and flew to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere in a VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo spaceplane along with two pilots and three Virgin Galactic employees.

A pioneer in the nascent space tourism industry, Virgin Galactic began selling seats in 2013 at $250,000 apiece. By the time it halted sales in 2014 (after a test flight failure), the company had collected deposits from more than 600 aspiring customers. Ticket sales resumed in August this year at a higher price of $450,000. Virgin Galactic said it has since received 100 reservations.

Each VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo can carry up to four passengers. Virgin Galactic expects to fly paying passengers three times a month in 2023. At its current reservation volume, it will take the company a number of years to clear its wait list. So, patience is your friend here.

Blue Origin: Quick Rocket Trip to the Kármán line

Ticket Price: Reportedly $28 million Flight altitude: 100 km What you’ll get: A 12-minute ride to the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. Date available:  Now Value for money: ★ (1/5 stars)

Blue Origin offers a similar suborbital flight package to Virgin Galactic’s. The main difference is that Virgin flies passengers in a plane while Blue Origin launches amateur astronauts in a real rocket.

On July 20, a few days after Branson’s spaceflight, Jeff Bezos became the first customer of his own space company as well, blasting off to 107 kilometers in the sky in a New Shepard booster-capsule combo. The same spacecraft launched another crew of four passengers, including Star Trek actor William Shatner , on October 13.

Blue Origin began taking reservations in May. The exact ticket price is still a mystery. Bezos has said Blue Origin will price New Shepard flights similarly to its competitors, which led us to speculate that it would likely fall in the range of what Virgin Galactic charges. But, according to Tom Hanks , the ride would cost $28 million, which he said was the reason he turned down Bezos’ invitation to fly on the October mission. Hanks may have been joking, but $28 million was how much an auction winner paid to fly alongside Bezos in July. Of that total, $19 million was donated to various space organizations, Blue Origin said. If the remaining amount went to the company itself, it was still a hefty $9 million.

Blue Origin said it has raked in $100 million from private clients, but refused to disclose how many tickets have been sold.

SpaceX: Multi-Day Orbital Voyage

Ticket Price: Estimated $55 million Flight altitude: 574 km Date available:  Now What you’ll get: Three-day stay inside SpaceX’s Dragon capsule circling around Earth with three crew mates. Value for money: ★★★ (3/5 stars)

SpaceX has more experience launching humans into space than any other company in this roundup. Its civilian package, rightfully the most expensive of the bunch, provides the closest experience to true space exploration.

In September, four amateur astronauts blasted off into space in a modified SpaceX Dragon capsule, equipped with a 360-degree glass dome, and spent three days flying in Earth’s orbit. The crewed spacecraft shot up to an altitude of 357 miles, about 100 miles higher than the average orbital altitude of the International Space Station.

The trip was paid for by tech billionaire Jared Isaacman, who was also one of the passengers. SpaceX didn’t disclose the exact amount he paid. It was estimated in the $200 million ballpark, given that NASA pays about $55 million for each seat on SpaceX’s regular crewed missions to the ISS.

Axiom Space/SpaceX: Vacation on International Space Station 

Ticket Price: $55 million Flight altitude: 408 km Date available: 2022 What you’ll get: A 10-day trip to the International Space Station, including a weeklong stay in the orbital lab. Value for money: ★★★★★ (5/5 stars)

Next year, another four-person, all-civilian mission is expected to launch with a SpaceX Dragon capsule, this time to actually dock at the International Space Station and let the crew live in the orbital lab for a week. (The Inspiration4 mission stayed in orbit only.)

The trip is marketed by Houston-based Axiom Space , a company led by former NASA official Michael Suffredini. Dubbed Ax-1, the mission will be piloted by former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría. Three passengers—Larry Connor, Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe—have reportedly paid $55 million each for the remaining seats.

Axiom has three more flights planned in 2022 and 2023. Under NASA’s low Earth orbit commercialization policy, two ISS civilian missions no longer than 30 days are allowed per year. Axiom actually aims to eventually build a stand-alone space station to replace the aging ISS. The first major module is expected to launch in 2024.

Roscosmos: Customized Trip to International Space Station

Ticket Price: $50 million to $60 million Flight altitude: 408 km Date available: Now What you’ll get: A 12-day trip to the International Space Station. Value for money: ★★★★★ (5/5 stars)

If you don’t feel like buying your first space trip from an inexperienced private company, Russia’s national space agency Roscosmos has a ISS getaway package very similar to what Axiom and SpaceX have to offer.

In October, Roscosmos sent an actress and a director to the ISS for a 12-day trip to shoot scenes for what will be the first movie filmed in space. On December 8, another civilian, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, known for having booked a SpaceX Starship flight around the moon in 2023, will travel to the ISS in a Russian Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft, set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Maezawa will fly with his assistant, Yozo Hirano, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. According to Space Adventures , a Virginia-based company currently working with Roscosmos on future commercial flights, a seat on an ISS-bound Soyuz spacecraft will cost in the range of $50 million to $60 million.

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• Space Travel + Astronomy

Space Tourism Is Here: Booking a Trip to the Final Frontier

The next era of space exploration and innovation is here — and we're all invited. A billionaire space race is underway as Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, and others are testing the technology to take us to places previously visited only by highly trained astronauts. Space tourism is officially taking flight, and it might just save the Earth.

In July 2021, we watched as Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos took to the skies in a giant leap for the space tourism industry, but their launches to the edge of space weren't timed particularly well. Against the backdrop of a global pandemic and climate emergency, two billionaires taking joy rides to space may not have been good optics, but don't underestimate what just happened — and how important it could be for the future of humanity.

With the first crewed launches of Virgin Galactic's supersonic space plane and Blue Origin's reusable rocket, a world of commercial space travel is taking its first step. Both companies plan to begin regular, scheduled trips for paying space tourists in the near future, but their visions stretch back many years to the beginning of human spaceflight.

The Space Race: Then and Now

Bezos's Blue Origin chose an auspicious day to send its first crew to space. July 20, 2021 was exactly 52 years after Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. But that wasn't the only major space travel anniversary celebrated in 2021.

April 12 was the 60th anniversary of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first human to not only reach space, but also go into orbit around Earth. Meanwhile, May 5 saw the 60th anniversary of NASA's Freedom 7 mission, which launched Alan Shepard on a suborbital flight that lasted 15 minutes. He reached an altitude of 101 miles to become the first American in space before his capsule parachuted to splashdown in the ocean.

The name of Blue Origin's New Shepard launch system is no coincidence. Its mission profile is almost identical to America's inaugural 1961 spaceflight, save for billionaire-grade comfy seats and large windows. From Launch Site One near Van Horn in the West Texas desert, that rocket fires a capsule containing up to six people (but no pilot) into space, which then parachutes down 15 minutes later.

The Virgin Galactic experience is different. Its supersonic rocket-powered spaceplane SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity seats six passengers and two highly trained pilots. It takes off on a runway from Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, while strapped to a mothership. At 52,000 feet, it detaches and burns its rocket engine for one minute to reach Mach 3 speeds and touch the edge of space. After a few minutes of weightlessness (and a chance for passengers to see the curvature of Earth against the blackness of space), it glides back to land on a runway.

The Price for a Ticket to Space

These short trips are anticipated to cost between $250,000 and $500,000, but in January 2022, expect to see a truly out-of-this-world private trip to space with an even more astronomical price tag. It will come from the other, arguably much more important billionaire in the space tourism bubble: Elon Musk. Axiom Mission 1 will see his company, SpaceX, launch four private astronauts on behalf of Houston-based space tourism company Axiom Space. An American real estate investor, a Canadian investor, a former Israeli Air Force pilot, and an ex-Space Shuttle pilot will launch on an incredible orbital mission in its Crew Dragon spacecraft.

At $55 million per ticket, this is ultra-aspirational space tourism of the highest order. "The experience is drastically different because they will be launching on a SpaceX rocket and going to the International Space Station (ISS) for 10 days," says Christina Korp, cofounder of Space for a Better World . "They will be doing what real astronauts do, and I don't think it's an accident that Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin did their flights before Axiom's mission." Axiom Space intends to launch a private space station — the first "space hotel" — as early as 2024 to give space tourists somewhere to visit.

The Future of Space Tourism — and of Our Planet

Musk talks of Mars colonies and humanity spreading out into the cosmos, but since 2012, SpaceX has made a lot of money from NASA contracts to launch supplies to the ISS. In the summer of 2020, it began ferrying NASA astronauts there, too. SpaceX's Starship — currently being tested — will land two NASA astronauts, the first woman and the next man, on the moon in 2024.

You see, space tourism is just a sideshow to a bigger and more worthy goal of saving the planet. Next year, Blue Origin plans to test its reusable New Glenn rocket — named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962 — which will be able to take cargo and astronauts into orbit. Bezos has said he thinks we need to go to space to save Earth, specifically by protecting the planet from pollution by moving heavy industry into space. That can only happen when space travel is safe, scheduled, and affordable. Space tourism will help create a competitive space economy, just as mass tourism has lowered the cost of flying.

Similarly, Branson's aim is to increase access to space. "We are at the vanguard of a new space age…Our mission is to make space more accessible to all," he said after his inaugural flight. A microgravity experiment was on board that first flight on July 11, with similar plans for all subsequent trips. Meanwhile, sister company Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne sends small satellites and science payloads into orbit via a small rocket launch from underneath the wing of a Boeing 747.

The scientific spin-offs for all of us down on Earth are currently unknown, but the space community has an incredible track record when it comes to innovation. "Clean energy as solar power is from the space program," says Korp. "Solar panels were invented to power satellites and refined to power spacecraft." Cue GPS, weather forecasting, telecommunications, and even internet access. There are also fleets of satellites large and small that observe how our planet is behaving and changing. "It's the space industry that's monitoring climate change, tracking hurricanes, and learning how to survive in the extreme environment of space — including experiments to grow food with almost no water, for example," says Korp. Every single space mission, including suborbital and even zero-gravity flights, have environmental experiments on board as default.

"This is not about escaping Earth," said Bezos after the flight. "The whole point is, this is the only good planet in the solar system and we have to take care of it." Bezos wants to scale up into affordable space travel. That will enable long-term, commercial projects that ultimately may help prevent further climate change, or at least help us cope with its consequences.

However, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and SpaceX won't be the only way to reach space. Russian space agency Roscosmos is expected to take "citizen space explorers" to the ISS soon, but the most affordable way to get "black sky time" may be with Space Perspective , which will launch a pressurized capsule propelled by a high-performance space balloon.

The six-hour flight will cost around $125,000 per person and launch from Space Coast Spaceport in Florida in 2024. "Unlike short-lived, adrenaline-fueled moments of weightlessness, Space Perspective flights bring you space calm," says Jane Poynter, founder, co-CEO, and CXO of Space Perspective. The flights on Spaceship Neptune involve a gentle ascent at just 12 miles per hour for a six-hour tour of Earth's biosphere, culminating in a view of our beautiful planet from space.

Space tourism is here at last. Instagram had better get ready for "Earth selfies."

Program Credits

Editorial Lead: Elizabeth Rhodes Contributors: Jamie Carter and Stefanie Waldek Visuals Editor: Mariah Tyler Art Director: Jenna Brillhart Designer: Sarah Maiden

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The Future of Space Tourism Is Now. Well, Not Quite.

From zero-pressure balloon trips to astronaut boot camps, reservations for getting off the planet — or pretending to — are skyrocketing. The prices, however, are still out of this world.

By Debra Kamin

Ilida Alvarez has dreamed of traveling to space since she was a child. But Ms. Alvarez, a legal-mediation firm owner, is afraid of flying, and she isn’t a billionaire — two facts that she was sure, until just a few weeks ago, would keep her fantasy as out of reach as the stars. She was wrong.

Ms. Alvarez, 46, and her husband, Rafael Landestoy, recently booked a flight on a 10-person pressurized capsule that — attached to a massive helium-filled balloon — will gently float to 100,000 feet while passengers sip champagne and recline in ergonomic chairs. The reservation required a $500 deposit; the flight itself will cost $50,000 and last six to 12 hours.

“I feel like it was tailor-made for the chickens like me who don’t want to get on a rocket,” said Ms. Alvarez, whose flight, organized by a company called World View , is scheduled to depart from the Grand Canyon in 2024.

Less than a year after Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson kicked off a commercial space race by blasting into the upper atmosphere within weeks of each other last summer, the global space tourism market is skyrocketing, with dozens of companies now offering reservations for everything from zero-pressure balloon trips to astronaut boot camps and simulated zero-gravity flights. But don’t don your spacesuit just yet. While the financial services company UBS estimates the space travel market will be worth $3 billion by 2030, the Federal Aviation Administration has yet to approve most out-of-this-world trips, and construction has not started on the first space hotel. And while access and options — not to mention launchpads — are burgeoning, space tourism remains astronomically expensive for most.

First, what counts as space travel?

Sixty miles (about 100 kilometers) above our heads lies the Kármán line, the widely accepted aeronautical boundary of the earth’s atmosphere. It’s the boundary used by the Féderátion Aéronautique Internationale, which certifies and controls global astronautical records. But many organizations in the United States, including the F.A.A. and NASA, define everything above 50 miles to be space.

Much of the attention has been focused on a trio of billionaire-led rocket companies: Mr. Bezos’ Blue Origin , whose passengers have included William Shatner; Mr. Branson’s Virgin Galactic , where tickets for a suborbital spaceflight start at $450,000; and Elon Musk’s SpaceX , which in September launched an all-civilian spaceflight, with no trained astronauts on board. Mr. Branson’s inaugural Virgin Galactic flight in 2021 reached about 53 miles, while Blue Origin flies above the 62-mile mark. Both are eclipsed by SpaceX, whose rockets charge far deeper in to the cosmos, reaching more than 120 miles above Earth.

Balloons, like those operated by World View, don’t go nearly as high. But even at their maximum altitude of 18 or 19 miles, operators say they float high enough to show travelers the curvature of the planet, and give them a chance to experience the overview effect — an intense perspective shift that many astronauts say kicks in when you view Earth from above.

Now, how to get there …

Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, which are both licensed for passenger space travel by the F.A.A., are open for ticket sales. (Blue Origin remains mum on pricing.) Both companies currently have hundreds or even thousands of earthlings on their wait lists for a whirl to the edge of space. SpaceX charges tens of millions of dollars for its further-reaching flights and is building a new facility in Texas that is currently under F.A.A. review.

Craig Curran is a major space enthusiast — he’s held a reserved seat on a Virgin Galactic flight since 2011 — and the owner of Deprez Travel in Rochester, N.Y. The travel agency has a special space travel arm, Galactic Experiences by Deprez , through which Mr. Curran sells everything from rocket launch tickets to astronaut training.

Sales in the space tourism space, Mr. Curran acknowledges, “are reasonably difficult to make,” and mostly come from peer-to-peer networking. “You can imagine that people who spend $450,000 to go to space probably operate in circles that are not the same as yours and mine,” he said.

Some of Mr. Curran’s most popular offerings include flights where you can experience the same stomach-dropping feeling of zero gravity that astronauts feel in space, which he arranges for clients via chartered, specialized Boeing 727s that are flown in parabolic arcs to mimic being in space. Operators including Zero G also offer the service; the cost is around $8,200.

You can almost count the number of completed space tourist launches on one hand — Blue Origin has had four; SpaceX, two. Virgin Galactic, meanwhile, on Thursday announced the launch of its commercial passenger service, previously scheduled for late 2022, was delayed until early 2023. Many of those on waiting lists are biding their time before blastoff by signing up for training. Axiom Space, which contracts with SpaceX, currently offers NASA-partnered training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center. Virgin Galactic, which already offers a “customized Future Astronaut Readiness program” at its Spaceport America facility in New Mexico, is also partnering with NASA to build a training program for private astronauts.

Would-be space tourists should not expect the rigor that NASA astronauts face. Training for Virgin Galactic’s three-hour trips is included in the cost of a ticket and lasts a handful of days; it includes pilot briefings and being “fitted for your bespoke Under Armour spacesuit and boots,” according to its website.

Not ready for a rocket? Balloon rides offer a less hair-raising celestial experience.

“We go to space at 12 miles an hour, which means that it’s very smooth and very gentle. You’re not rocketing away from earth,” said Jane Poynter, a co-founder and co-chief executive of Space Perspective , which is readying its own touristic balloon spaceship, Spaceship Neptune. If all goes according to plan, voyages are scheduled to begin departing from Florida in 2024, at a cost of $125,000 per person. That’s a fraction of the price tag for Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, but still more than double the average annual salary of an American worker.

Neither Space Perspective nor World View has the required approval yet from the F.A.A. to operate flights.

Unique implications

Whether a capsule or a rocket is your transport, the travel insurance company battleface launched a civilian space insurance plan in late 2021, a direct response, said chief executive Sasha Gainullin, to an increase in space tourism interest and infrastructure. Benefits include accidental death and permanent disablement in space and are valid for spaceflights on operators like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, as well as on stratospheric balloon rides. They’ve had many inquiries, Mr. Gainullin said, but no purchases just yet.

“Right now it’s such high-net-worth individuals who are traveling to space, so they probably don’t need insurance,” he said. “But for quote-unquote regular travelers, I think we’ll see some takeups soon.”

And as the industry grows, so perhaps will space travel’s impact on the environment. Not only do rocket launches have immense carbon footprints, even some stratospheric balloon flights have potentially significant implications: World View’s balloons are powered by thousands of cubic meters of helium, which is a limited resource . But Ted Parson, a professor of environmental law at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that space travel’s environmental impact is still dwarfed by civil aviation. And because space travel is ultra-niche, he believes it’s likely to stay that way.

“Despite extensive projections, space tourism is likely to remain a tiny fraction of commercial space exploration,” he said. “It reminds me of tourism on Mt. Everest. It’s the indulgence of very rich people seeking a transcendent, once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the local environmental burden is intense.”

Stay a while?

In the future, space enthusiasts insist, travelers won’t be traveling to space just for the ride. They’ll want to stay a while. Orbital Assembly Corporation, a manufacturing company whose goal is to colonize space, is currently building the world’s first space hotels — two ring-shaped properties that will orbit Earth, called Pioneer Station and Voyager Station. The company, quite optimistically, projects an opening date of 2025 for Pioneer Station, with a capacity of 28 guests. The design for the larger Voyager Station , which they say will open in 2027, promises villas and suites, as well as a gym, restaurant and bar. Both provide the ultimate luxury: simulated gravity. Axiom Space , a space infrastructure company, is currently building the world’s first private space station; plans include Philippe Starck-designed accommodations for travelers to spend the night.

Joshua Bush, chief executive of travel agency Avenue Two Travel , has sold a handful of seats on upcoming Virgin Galactic flights to customers. The market for space travel (and the sky-high prices that come with it), he believes, will evolve much like civilian air travel did.

“In the beginning of the 20th century, only very affluent people could afford to fly,” he said. “Just as we have Spirit and Southwest Airlines today, there will be some sort of equivalent of that in space travel, too. Hopefully within my lifetime.”

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When Can I Buy a Ticket to Space? A Guide for Non-Billionaires.

We’re at the dawn of a new era for space exploration, with thrill-seeking civilians boldly going where no tourist has gone before. Over 60 years after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space, a handful of companies are planning to take non-astronauts with sufficiently massive bank accounts on a galactic tour: Tesla Founder Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin , and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.

Here’s everything you need to know about the rise of space tourism, from which billionaires are leaving Earth imminently to when the rest of us might be able to join them.

What’s the history of civilian space travel?

The initial effort to send a civilian into space ended in disaster: In 1986, Christa McAuliffe was set to be the first civilian and teacher in space, but she and six crewmates were tragically killed during the explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger.

After that, NASA largely forbade the practice. But Russia’s then-struggling space program stepped up to the plate. On April 28, 2001, Dennis Tito paid a whopping $20 million for a seat on a Russian Soyuz rocket, becoming the first civilian to visit the International Space Station – humanity’s home away from home. According to Space.com , just seven space tourists have followed in his footsteps in the last 20 years, via Russia’s Space Agency. But the year ahead should be a busy one for the nascent industry, with more and more civilians reaching for the stars.

Who’s heading to space next?

The competition between the major players in the billionaire space race heated up when Bezos announced that he would jet off to the brink of space and back on July 20, the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. On July 1 – just hours after Bezos announced that in addition to his brother, he’d be joined on the flight by aviation pioneer Wally Funk – Richard Branson revealed that he would beat the Amazon founder into space by nine days. Branson will blast off on Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity rocketplane on July 11.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is planning what it’s billing as “the world’s first all-civilian space flight” in late 2021. The multiday flight into low Earth orbit, dubbed “Inspiration4” and funded by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, aims to raise awareness for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and begin “a new era for human spaceflight and exploration.” The crew includes Isaacman, childhood cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux, plus two others. It’s currently scheduled to launch “no earlier than September 15, 2021,” per the mission’s website.

SpaceX aims to keep the momentum going by partnering with Houston-based Axiom Space to send more everyday people into space using its Crew Dragon spacecraft, this time going to the International Space Station. Axiom’s first private ISS mission is set to launch “no earlier than January 2022.” Its second mission is the focus of the Discovery Channel reality-TV show Who Wants to Be an Astronaut? , in which contestants take on extreme challenges for a chance at a ticket to the ISS. Axiom Space plans to eventually host civilian space station jaunts every six months.

What does this cost?

Unsurprisingly, going to space comes with a hefty price tag. Axiom passengers will pay the low, low price of $55 million for the flight and a stay on the ISS. Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic’s suborbital trips — where passengers can experience weightlessness for several minutes before falling back to Earth — are far more reasonable in cost, at $250,000 . Six hundred people have already made reservations for 90-minute flights on Branson’s SpaceShipTwo, Reuters reports. And while Bezos’s Blue Origin hasn’t announced official prices, an auction for a seat to join him and his brother on his brief sojourn to space in July went for a cool $28 million .

How safe is it?

Hollywood isn’t exaggerating: Going to space is inherently dangerous. Congress agreed in 2004 to largely let the space-tourism industry self-regulate, so there are few laws and restrictions on taking civilians into space.

“One way that the government could have gone was to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to certify the spacecraft, make sure that they’re safe and give them the stamp of approval,’” Mark Sundahl, an expert at space law at Cleveland State University, told Discover magazine . “But they didn’t go that way. Instead, they said ‘We’re going to prove we’re protecting space tourists by just requiring the companies to tell them that they may die, and then it’s up to them to make a decision if they want to take that risk or not.’ That’s the approach that the government took, and it is somewhat controversial.”

What other types of space tourism are in the works?

Strapping in on a rocket and blasting off into space isn’t the only type of travel available for those eager to leave this planet. Human space flight company Space Perspective is planning to fly passengers to the edge of space in a high-tech version of a hot-air balloon, “the size of a football stadium,” lifted by hydrogen. Flights are planned for early 2024, with tickets priced firmly at $125,000 per person.

For another out-of-this-world vacation, check out the company Orbital Assembly Corporation , which plans to open a luxury space hotel in 2027. The hotel, named Voyager Station, looks almost like a Ferris wheel floating in orbit and features a restaurant, gym, and Earth-viewing lounges and bars. A three-and-a-half-day stay is expected to cost up to $5 million, the Washington Post reports.

Are other celebrities planning to explore space?

A slew of stars have already bought their tickets to space with Virgin Galactic, among them Justin Bieber, Ashton Kusher, and Leonardo DiCaprio, according to the New York Daily News . Last year, Actor Tom Cruise and NASA announced their own collaboration to make a movie on the International Space Station.

When can the average person do this?

Once again, the biggest barrier to space is the price tag. But air travel was also once prohibitively expensive, with a one-way ticket across the country costing more than half the price of a new car ; one can expect similar price reductions in space travel. For now, partaking in a sweepstakes or reality show might be the best bet for those with tiny bank accounts and big dreams of taking to the stars.

This post was updated after Branson announced he would head to space on July 11.

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Virgin Galactic’s first space tourists finally soar, an Olympian and a mother-daughter duo

Virgin Galactic rocketed to the edge of space with its first tourists Thursday, including a former British Olympian who bought his ticket 18 years ago and a mother-daughter duo from the Caribbean. (August 10) (Production Marissa Duhaney)

This photo provided Virgin Galactic shows passengers during Virgin Galactic’s first space tourism flight on Thursday Aug. 10, 2023. Virgin Galactic rocketed to the edge of space with its first tourists Thursday. The space plane glided back to a runway landing at Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert, after a brief flight that gave passengers a few minutes of weightlessness.(Virgin Galactic via AP)

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Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered plane Unity 22, lands after a short flight to the edge of space at Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences, N.M., Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. Virgin Galactic is taking its first space tourists on a long-delayed rocket ship ride. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered plane Unity 22, left, flies past its mothership Eve on its way to the edge of space after taking off from Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences, N.M., Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. Virgin Galactic is taking its first space tourists on a long-delayed rocket ship ride. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Virgin Galactic’s mothership Eve, carrying the rocket-powered plane Unity 22, flies after taking off from Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences, N.M., Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. Virgin Galactic is taking its first space tourists on a long-delayed rocket ship ride. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Space tourists, from left, Anastatia Mayers, Jon Goodwin and Keisha Schahaff pose for photos before boarding their Virgin Galactic flight at Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences, N.M., Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. Virgin Galactic is taking its first space tourists on a long-delayed rocket ship ride. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Guests wave flags of Antigua and Barbuda while watching the return of Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered plane Unity at Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences, N.M., Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. Virgin Galactic is taking its first space tourists on a long-delayed rocket ship ride, including a British former Olympian and a mother-daughter duo from the Caribbean island. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Space tourists, from left, Anastatia Mayers, Jon Goodwin and Keisha Schahaff walk to the tarmac before boarding their Virgin Galactic flight at Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences, N.M., Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. Virgin Galactic is taking its first space tourists on a long-delayed rocket ship ride. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Virgin Galactic’s mothership Eve, carrying the rocket-powered plane Unity 22, takes off from Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences, N.M., Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. Virgin Galactic is taking its first space tourists on a long-delayed rocket ship ride. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) — Virgin Galactic rocketed to the edge of space with its first tourists Thursday, a former British Olympian who bought his ticket 18 years ago and a mother-daughter duo from the Caribbean.

The space plane glided back to a runway landing at Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert, after a brief flight that gave passengers a few minutes of weightlessness.

This first private customer flight had been delayed for years; its success means Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic can now start offering monthly rides, joining Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the space tourism business.

“That was by far the most awesome thing I’ve ever done in my life,” said Jon Goodwin, who competed in canoeing in the 1972 Olympics.

Goodwin, 80, was among the first to buy a Virgin Galactic ticket in 2005 and feared, after later being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, that he’d be out of luck. Since then he’s climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and cycled back down, and said he hopes his spaceflight shows others with Parkinson’s and other illnesses that ”it doesn’t stop you doing things.”

Ticket prices were $200,000 when Goodwin signed up. The cost is now $450,000.

He was joined on the flight by sweepstakes winner Keisha Schahaff, 46, a health coach from Antigua, and her daughter, Anastatia Mayers, 18, a student at Scotland’s University of Aberdeen. They high-fived and pumped their fists as the spaceport crowd cheered their return.

“A childhood dream has come true,” said Schahaff, who took pink Antiguan sand up with her. Added her daughter: “I have no words. The only thought I had the whole time was ‘Wow!’ ”

With the company’s astronaut trainer and one of the two pilots, it marked the first time women outnumbered men on a spaceflight, four to two.

Cheers erupted from families and friends watching below when the craft’s rocket motor fired after it was released from the twin-fuselage aircraft that had carried it aloft. The rocket ship’s portion of the flight lasted about 15 minutes and it reached 55 miles (88 kilometers) high.

It was Virgin Galactic’s seventh trip to space since 2018, but the first with a ticket-holder. Branson, the company’s founder, hopped on board for the first full-size crew ride in 2021. Italian military and government researchers soared in June on the first commercial flight. About 800 people are currently on Virgin Galactic’s waiting list, according to the company.

In contrast to Virgin Galactic’s plane-launched rocket ship, the capsules used by SpaceX and Blue Origin are fully automated and parachute back down.

Like Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin aims for the fringes of space, quick ups-and-downs from West Texas. Blue Origin has launched 31 people so far, but flights are on hold following a rocket crash last fall. The capsule, carrying experiments but no passengers, landed intact.

SpaceX, is the only private company flying customers all the way to orbit, charging a much heftier price, too: tens of millions of dollars per seat. It’s already flown three private crews. NASA is its biggest customer, relying on SpaceX to ferry its astronauts to and from the International Space Station. since 2020.

People have been taking on adventure travel for decades, the risks underscored by the recent implosion of the Titan submersible that killed five passengers on their way down to view the Titanic wreckage. Virgin Galactic suffered its own casualty in 2014 when its rocket plane broke apart during a test flight, killing one pilot. Yet space tourists are still lining up, ever since the first one rocketed into orbit in 2001 with the Russians.

Branson, who lives in the British Virgin Islands, watched Thursday’s flight from a party in Antigua. He was joined by the country’s prime minister, as well as Schahaff’s mother and other relatives.

“Welcome to the club,” he told the new spacefliers via X, formerly Twitter.

Several months ago, Branson held a virtual lottery to establish a pecking order for the company’s first 50 customers — dubbed the Founding Astronauts. Virgin Galactic said the group agreed Goodwin would go first, given his age and his Parkinson’s.

This story has been updated to correct introductory price to $200,000, not $250,000.

Dunn reported from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Virgin Galactic successfully flies tourists to space for first time

Six individuals were aboard VSS Unity space plane, including first mother-daughter duo to venture to space together

Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity, the reusable rocket-powered space plane carrying the company’s first crew of tourists to space, successfully launched and landed on Thursday.

The mission, known as Galactic 02, took off shortly after 11am ET from Spaceport America in New Mexico .

Aboard the spacecraft were six individuals total – the space plane’s commander and former Nasa astronaut CJ Sturckow, the pilot Kelly Latimer, as well as Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor who trained the crew before the flight.

The spacecraft also carryied three private passengers, including the health and wellness coach Keisha Schahaff and her 18-year-old daughter, Anastasia Mayers, both of whom are Antiguan.

According to Space.com, Schahaff won her seat onboard the Galactic 02 as part of a fundraising competition by Space for Humanity, a non-profit organization seeking to democratize space travel. Mayers is studying philosophy and physics at Aberdeen University in Scotland. Together, Schahaff and Mayers are the first mother-daughter duo to venture to space together.

“When I was two years old, just looking up to the skies, I thought, ‘How can I get there?’ But, being from the Caribbean, I didn’t see how something like this would be possible. The fact that I am here, the first to travel to space from Antigua, shows that space really is becoming more accessible,” Schahaff said in a statement last month.

The mission also marks the most women flown in a single mission to space.

Onboard the flight was also the former Olympian Jon Goodwin, who participated in the 1972 Olympics in Munich as a canoeist. At 80 years old, Goodwin was the second passenger with Parkinson’s disease and the first Olympian to embark on a trip to space.

“When I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2014, I was determined not to let it stand in the way of living life to the fullest. And now for me to go to space with Parkinson’s is completely magical,” he said in a news release. “I hope this inspires all others facing adversity and shows them that challenges don’t have to inhibit or stop them from pursuing their dreams,” Goodwin said .

Galactic 02 is a suborbital flight. However, despite VSS Unity not reaching orbit, the trajectory allows passengers to experience several minutes of weightlessness at an altitude high enough for them to see the Earth’s curvature, Space.com explains .

Following liftoff, Virgin Galactic’s carrier plane VMS Eve transported VSS Unity to an altitude of about 44,300ft. Eve then dropped Unity, which then fired its own rocket motor and ascended to suborbital space. Passengers onboard experienced approximately 3Gs.

Live footage inside the spacecraft showed the passengers unstrapping themselves from their seats and peering out down to Earth through the windows as they floated throughout the spacecraft.

In a press conference after the flight, Schahaff recounted her experience, saying: “Looking at Earth was the most amazing … It was so comfortable. It really was the best ride ever. I would love to do this again.

“This experience has given me this beautiful feeling that if I can do this, I can do anything,” she added.

Mayers, who is the second-youngest person to go to space, said: “I was shocked at the things that you feel. You are so much more connected to everything than you would expect to be. You felt like a part of the team, a part of the ship, a part of the universe, a part of Earth. It was incredible and I’m still starstruck.”

To Goodwin, the experience was far more dramatic than he expected.

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“The pure acceleration, Mach 3 [2,301mph, 3,378 ft per second] in eight and a half seconds was completely surreal. The re-entry was a lot more dramatic than I imagined it would be. In fact, I would have said it was out of control if I didn’t know anything different,” he said.

“It was a completely surreal experience. But the most impressive thing was looking at Earth from space. The pure clarity was very moving, quite surreal. It was without a doubt the most exciting day of my life,” he added.

In a statement released following the flight, Sturckow said: “It is a surreal and humbling experience to have flown Unity today. The wonder and excitement of spaceflight never loses its magic.”

Latimer echoed similar sentiments, saying: “In my entire career, from the Air Force Academy to being a test pilot for Nasa, nothing tops what I have just experienced at the controls of VSS Unity. Going to space today fulfilled an ambition I’ve had since I was a child.”

The Virgin Galactic founder, Sir Richard Branson, also hailed the flight, tweeting: “Today we flew three incredible private passengers to space: Keisha Schahaff, Anastatia Mayers and Jon Goodwin. Congratulations Virgin Galactic commercial astronauts 011, 012 and 013 – welcome to the club!”

Despite Galactic 02 being Virgin Galactic’s second commercial spaceflight mission, it is the first flight to carry private customers. In June, Galactic 01 carried three crew members from the Italian air force and the National Research Council of Italy.

In July 2021, Branson traveled to space and back onboard the VSS Unity, a mission that marked the billionaire’s entry into the new era of space tourism helmed by other billionaires including the SpaceX founder, Elon Musk, and Blue Origin founder, Jeff Bezos.

According to Virgin Galactic, the company has already booked a backlog of about 800 customers. Tickets have ranged from $250,000 to $450,000.

Galactic 03, the company’s third commercial spaceflight, is planned for September.

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HALO Space unveils capsule design for stratospheric space 'glamping'

A Spanish balloon company plans to begin flying paying space tourists in 2026

LONDON — Stratospheric balloon company HALO Space plans to offer aspiring space travelers the space tourism equivalent of glamping. Instead of tight space suits and stomach-churning G-forces typically attached to a rocket flight, the company's pressurized capsule, attached to a helium-filled balloon, will offer comfy swivel seats, giant windows and a selection of fine cuisine.

The Spanish-headquartered firm unveiled the design of the 3.9-ton (3.5 metric tonnes) Aurora capsule at an event in London on Wednesday, April 10, and said it hoped to begin commercial operations in 2026. 

Unlike suborbital space tourism companies such as Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin , HALO Space won't be taking passengers high enough to experience weightlessness . The flight will be a rather leisurely affair lasting up to six hours, almost four of which will be spent hovering in the stratosphere some 22 miles (35 kilometers) above Earth's surface. There, high above the cloud tops, passengers will be able to admire the star-studded blackness of space above, as well as the curvature of the planet shrouded in the atmosphere beneath their feet.

Related: Space Perspective is nearly ready to fly tourists on luxury balloon rides near the edge of space (exclusive)

"When you talk to astronauts, they tell you that this experience of watching the planet from above is really something unique and extraordinary," HALO Space CEO Carlos Mira said in the press conference. "So far, only 650 humans have had the opportunity to experience this overview effect. But you don’t need to go all the way to space to have it. We hope to offer this experience to 1,000 people by 2030."

HALO Space is one of two companies currently readying its balloon technology to begin commercial operations in the next two years. The other is Florida-based Space Perspective, which revealed a completed test model of their Spaceship Neptune in February. HALO Space said they have conducted five test flights with a mockup and plan to take off for the first crewed test in 2025 before commencing flights with paying passengers a year later. 

Both companies hope their propositions will attract a wider customer base than the jerky rocket rides of Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, which propel daredevil clients on short joy rides to the edge of space and back. Reaching an altitude nearly three times higher than stratospheric balloons, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin's spacecraft experience several-minute-long spells of microgravity before falling back to Earth . 

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At $164,000 per seat, a trip with HALO Space will cost about a third of the price of a Virgin Galactic flight and won't require any advanced medical certifications. 

"The take-off will be like being in an elevator," said Mira. "The ascent is soft and gentle, climbing at 12 miles per hour."

The 16-foot-wide (5 meters) and 11.5-foot-tall (3.5 m) capsule will be made of aluminum alloy and composite materials. With an internal space of 30.4 square feet (2.8 square meters), the spaceship could host eight paying passengers, plus a pilot. The internal atmosphere will be maintained by a life-support system similar to that of an aircraft. Yet despite this crammed interior and the extreme environment outside the capsule, passengers should still feel perfectly comfortable and able to relax.

"It's meant to be a sort of a glamping experience," Frank Stephenson, creative director and founder of Frank Stephenson Design who led the design work said at the conference. "It's a high-level experience for these people who are used to flying first class rather than economy."

Stephenson, who had previously worked for high-end car makers including BMW, Ferrari, Maserati and McLaren, said the biggest challenge was keeping the capsule light enough so that it can be safely lifted by the balloon while still making sure every aspect of the interior lives up to the expectations of passengers. 

“It's very easy to add weight to things and make it super comfortable," Stephenson said. "It's more difficult to reduce weight, reduce material and still make it feel like a very unique experience."

When fully inflated, the stratospheric balloon will be 460 feet (140 meters) tall, towering over the gleaming space capsule. The balloon is designed to detach from the capsule during descent. The capsule will then be brought down to a landing under a steerable parachute. Mira said the balloon technology is inherently safer than rockets loaded with explosive fuels. It also produces no greenhouse gas emissions, making the experience 100 percent compliant with the most stringent environmental protection standards.

—  Space Perspective wants to take tourists on balloon rides to the stratosphere

—  Space Perspective partners with Exclusive Resorts for balloon rides to the stratosphere

—  Space Perspective starts selling seats for balloon rides

"We are using mature technologies," said Mira. "Balloons in general have been around for more than 200 years. This type of balloon, stratospheric balloons, have been around for almost 100 years. The first human went to the stratosphere on a balloon in 1931."

HALO Space plans to fly from spaceports in the Mojave Desert in the U.S., Spain, Australia and Saudi Arabia. The company is currently working with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to receive a license before its first crewed flight next year.  

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Tereza is a London-based science and technology journalist, aspiring fiction writer and amateur gymnast. Originally from Prague, the Czech Republic, she spent the first seven years of her career working as a reporter, script-writer and presenter for various TV programmes of the Czech Public Service Television. She later took a career break to pursue further education and added a Master's in Science from the International Space University, France, to her Bachelor's in Journalism and Master's in Cultural Anthropology from Prague's Charles University. She worked as a reporter at the Engineering and Technology magazine, freelanced for a range of publications including Live Science, Space.com, Professional Engineering, Via Satellite and Space News and served as a maternity cover science editor at the European Space Agency.

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Space travel is the next frontier in tourism, but is it a marketing opportunity?

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February 28, 2024 | 8 min read

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Space tourism used to be the reserve of sci-fi. But, says Joanna Lewis of Relevance, a trip to space is increasingly a reality – if you can afford the price tag.

More and more people are taking trips beyond the Earth's atmosphere, says Joanna Lewis / Freepik

Space travel is the new frontier for ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI), giving the world’s wealthiest travelers the chance to view life on Earth from a whole new perspective.

Commercial flights into space are becoming more routine, with the race for space travel being led by Virgin Galactic , SpaceX , Blue Origin, and Space Adventures. However, space tourism remains the reserve of the world’s richest individuals, with space travel companies focusing their marketing efforts on UHNWIs and billionaires.

According to research by UBS, the space tourism market is expected to reach a value of US$3bn (£2.4bn) by 2030. And it’s not surprising, given the global UHNW population in 2022 was 395,070, according to Wealth-X, with a combined wealth of $45,430bn. The total billionaire population stands at 3,194 individuals, with a collective wealth of $11,107bn.

Not only will space tourism add an exciting dimension to where UHNWIs vacation , but it will also provide a lucrative market for successful space tourism companies.

What are the different types of space travel ?

There are several different types of space travel, including orbital, suborbital, and lunar space tourism. Currently, space tourism is primarily focused on orbital and suborbital.

Suborbital space tourism is when the spacecraft reaches space but doesn’t break the gravitational border. Space tourism is currently dominated by suborbital spaceflights, with space travel companies Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin dominating this market. Suborbital flights typically reach altitudes of about 62 miles and give passengers just a few minutes in space and the chance to experience micro-gravity.

Orbital space tourism is when the spacecraft reaches orbit and passengers can spend up to a week orbiting Earth. SpaceX and Space Adventures are the only companies currently offering orbital space tourism.

Who are the key players in space tourism ?

The key players at the forefront of the race to bring space tourism to the masses are Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and SpaceX.

Virgin Galactic was established in 2004 by the British entrepreneur and billionaire Richard Branson. It launched its first commercial spaceflight in June 2023 for research purposes only and carried three passengers from the Italian Air Force and National Research Council.

The company took its first paying space travelers aboard Galactic O2 on August 10, 2023. The space tourism flight was launched from New Mexico and took three passengers – mother and daughter Keisha Schahaff and Anastasia Mayers, and Jon Goodwin, an 80-year-old former Olympian – to the edge of space and back, reaching an apex point of 55 miles above Earth and lasting a total of 72 minutes.

Virgin Galactic now offers a monthly cadence of spaceflights, asserting itself as a major player in space tourism. Each flight can accommodate three paying passengers, along with an accompanying astronaut.

Aerospace company Blue Origin was founded by American billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2000. Bezos traveled to space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket in 2021, describing the experience as the “best day ever.” His journey into space lasted 10 minutes and 10 seconds and was Blue Origin’s first crewed flight. The flight also took aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, the youngest space traveler.

SpaceX is owned by billionaire Elon Musk and was founded in 2002. In 2021, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the first orbital class rocket capable of re-flight, successfully took four passengers into orbit – 363 miles above Earth. A year later, the company, in conjunction with Axiom Space, took four passengers to the International Space Station, where they spent more than a week. According to reports, the passengers paid US$55m each for the trip.

SpaceX is the only space tourism company to send private civilians into orbit and to the International Space Station. To date, the Falcon 9 rocket has undergone 299 launches, 257 landings, and 231 re-flights. SpaceX’s Starship is the world’s most powerful launch system and in the future should be able to carry up to 100 people on long-duration, interplanetary flights.

While space tourism has gained headlines over the past few years as the industry is poised to become more accessible, it has been around for several decades. Indeed, American businessman Dennis Tito was the first space tourist in 2001, visiting the International Space Station while joining two Russian cosmonauts on a supply mission. The trip cost him a reported US$20m.

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How much does a trip to outer space cost?

The cost of space tourism has dramatically decreased since Tito's trip. However, it can vary significantly depending on the type of flight – suborbital or orbital – and on the company.

A Virgin Galactic ticket, for example, costs $450,000; however, even those with the cash to splash will have to join an 800-long waiting list.

Blue Origin does not publicly publish its flight costs. However, according to a space tourist who booked a flight in 2021 aboard Blue Origin, he paid a reported US$28m, although later had to skip the flight due to a “scheduling conflict”.

While the cost of space travel is currently prohibitive except for the world’s wealthiest individuals, there’s no doubt that as technology advances and space tourism companies reach economies of scale, space travel will become more affordable to more people.

What’s next for space tourism ?

Beyond commercial flights becoming more regular and more affordable, space tourism companies are already setting their sights on extended stays in space. In 2018, Orion Span, a galactic experience company, launched plans for an extended stay in a luxury space hotel – the Aurora Station – on the moon. The experience will reportedly set travelers back $9.5m.

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Relevance is a strategic and creative digital marketing agency specialising in profiling and targeting Ultra-High-Net-Worth-Individuals for the world's most exclusive...

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This space tourism company wants to take people to the stratosphere with a helium balloon for $150,000. See inside its capsule designed by a former Ferrari designer.

• Halo Space is a space-tourism company that uses helium balloons instead of rockets or jets.
• CEO Carlos Mira plans to launch commercial flights in 2026,  and take 10,000 people to the stratosphere by 2030.
• The company unveiled the interior of its capsule, designed by ex-Ferrari designer Frank Stephenson.

Halo Space was founded in 2021 with the goal of improving access to space tourism .

It would still be out of reach for most people, at around $150,000 a ticket, but by using helium balloons instead of jets or rockets, it's cheaper and more sustainable than the likes of Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic .

CEO Carlos Mira believes his company can take 10,000 people to the stratosphere within the next six years. He said Halo will start commercial flights in 2026.

Last Wednesday, the firm unveiled the interior of its capsule — designed by Frank Stephenson , a renowned industrial designer formerly of Ferrari and Maserati,.

Business Insider attended a London event hosted by the company to learn more about Halo Space and how it hopes to achieve its grand ambitions.

In the world of space tourism, the first companies that come to mind are the likes of SpaceX, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic — which can cost millions of dollars for a ticket.

Halo Space is trying a different, cheaper route. It plans to use a capsule lifted by a helium balloon into the stratosphere.

The Spanish company says its capsules will cruise at 18 to 22 miles above the Earth — around the same height as Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking skydive back in 2012.

The best moments from Felix Baumgartner's supersonic jump

The trip would last for four to six hours in total. That's longer than a Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic flight, but less than SpaceX's.

But by using a balloon instead of jet engines, the price could be around $150,000 — compared to Virgin Galactic's $450,000; Blue Origin's $28 million; or Space X's $55 million. It's also more sustainable.

Only about 650 people have ever been to space. The firm's CEO, Carlos Mira, claimed `Halo can up that figure to 10,000 by 2030 — aiming for at least two flights a week.

It plans to launch the capsule from sites in the US, Australia, Spain, and Saudi Arabia. The firm will set up temporary venues for customers that reflect the country, described as "more than glamping."

At a press conference last Wednesday, Halo unveiled the interior of its space capsule, designed by Frank Stephenson — formerly of Ferrari and BMW.

Stephenson made his name designing the Fiat 500 and the BMW X5, among other cars, but has been more involved with aerospace firms in recent years. He previously spoke to Business Insider about his work designing electric-vertical-take-off-and-landing aircraft, or eVTOLs — commonly known as flying taxis . Like Halo, they're focused on sustainability.

Stephenson spoke about how his design firm constructed its own 1:1 scale model of the capsule in order to figure out the best possible layout. "Computers don't design, humans design. That's really the only way to capture the human touch," he said.

He and his team tried a few different arrangements to figure out how to best position the nine seats, which includes one for a pilot.

They settled on this design, with all the seats facing outwards during the main cruise to maximize the views. But during takeoff and landing, half face backward and half forward.

Stephenson shared the sketches of the seat design, showing how much thought went into details like the armrest and adjustable headrest.

The capsule also features fold-down dining trays to maximize space. The area at the bottom stores meals, hot or cold, and Halo says it would serve whatever the customer requests.

Stephenson said it was also important to maximize space for the bathroom: "Nobody likes a tight space. Even if you fly upper class in most commercial airliners, it's quite tight and uncomfortable."

The mannequin in the image represents the 95th percentile for male height.

One of the most intriguing features is its plans for augmented reality, like showing differing constellations in the sky or where on Earth the capsule is flying over.

Overall, the capsule is over 16 feet wide and 11 feet tall.

Halo has conducted five test flights since 2022 and hopes to launch commercial flights as soon as 2026.

But its grand ambitions won't be easy to achieve. Halo thinks it will first be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration before getting approval in other countries.

Some at the press conference questioned whether Halo could face a similar fate as OceanGate, which owned the submersible that imploded last year. "Is this another way for rich people to kill themselves?" asked Aerospace Magazine's editor in chief.

What is OceanGate? Meet the company that made a business out of risky deep-sea tours of the Titanic shipwreck.

"Safety, for us, is the priority," Mira replied. "We are using mature technologies. Balloons have been around for more than 200 years." He also noted that Halo has partnered with engineering firms like Aciturri.

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21 Annoying Things You Should Never Do On A Flight

Posted: April 29, 2024 | Last updated: April 29, 2024

Flying is a shared experience, a blend of anticipation and routine, where passengers converge in the confined space of an aircraft. While air travel etiquette is understood by many, a handful of travelers often disregard these unspoken norms, engaging in behaviors that can detract from the overall comfort and enjoyment of the journey for others. From reclining seats without warning to misusing the overhead bins, these discourteous habits highlight the importance of mindfulness and respect in ensuring a pleasant flight for everyone.

Here are 21 annoying and rude things that should be avoided while flying.

Bringing Smelly Food on Board

Eating strong smelling foods in a confined space like an airplane is unpleasant for everyone on board. Opting for less aromatic food items respects the shared air space. Consider eating before boarding or selecting neutral smelling snacks for the flight.

Misusing the Overhead Bins

Placing personal items or taking up more than your fair share of bin space can inconvenience others or even delay the scheduled take off time. Being considerate with your luggage, using space efficiently, and following crew instructions helps everyone have access to the storage they need. Cooperation and courtesy make the boarding process smoother for all.

Boarding Before Your Group Is Called

While this might be tempting to ensure you get overhead bin space, this action creates unnecessary delays and confusion during the boarding process. Waiting for your designated group respects the system set up to ensure an orderly boarding. Patience and adherence to boarding protocols contribute to a smoother start to the flight.

Reclining Your Seat Suddenly

Quickly reclining your seat can startle the person behind you and potentially harm their laptop or spill their drink. It’s courteous to glance back and recline slowly. This consideration can prevent conflicts and ensure a peaceful flight for everyone.

Constantly Getting Up

Frequently moving in and out of your seat, especially if seated by the window, disrupts the comfort of those in your row. Planning bathroom visits around meal times and stretching periods can minimize disturbances. Being mindful of your seatmates’ comfort will make the journey more pleasant for everyone involved.

Using Bright Screens in a Dark Cabin

The glare from screens in a dimmed cabin can be a significant annoyance to others trying to sleep. Dimming your screen or using a blue light filter can help mitigate this issue. Consideration for others’ need to rest enhances the shared travel experience.

Hogging the Armrests

Taking over both armrests leaves your seatmates with nowhere to rest their arms, leading to discomfort and irritation. Sharing armrest space fairly, especially on long flights, is key to maintaining good relations with fellow passengers. A general rule is that the middle seat gets priority for armrests due to their limited space.

Ignoring Personal Hygiene

Neglecting personal hygiene can make the confined space of an airplane uncomfortable for those seated nearby. Wearing clean clothes and using deodorant can make the journey more pleasant for everyone. Consideration for others’ comfort is essential in such close quarters.

Boarding With a Backpack On

Navigating the airplane’s narrow aisle with a backpack strapped on can turn unsuspecting passengers into unwitting participants in an obstacle course, as they dodge unexpected swings and bumps. While perhaps unintended, this action can sour the mood, making it a faux pas in the unwritten etiquette of flight. By clutching the backpack in front, passengers can transform a potential aisle of hazards into a smooth runway, ensuring a harmonious coexistence between those seated and those passing by. null null

Drinking Excessively

Alcohol can impair judgment and lead to behavior that disrupts the comfort and safety of others on the flight. Moderation is key, and respecting the flight crew’s guidance on alcohol consumption ensures a harmonious journey. Responsible drinking can prevent unnecessary disturbances and ensure everyone’s well-being.

Kicking or Pushing the Seat in Front of You

This behavior can cause continuous discomfort and frustration for the person in front of you. Being mindful of your movements and avoiding unnecessary force against the seat preserves the peace. A little empathy goes a long way in ensuring a comfortable flight for everyone.

Letting Children Misbehave

Unchecked noisy or disruptive behavior from children can strain the patience of other passengers. It’s important for guardians to prepare with activities and snacks to keep children engaged and calm. Setting boundaries and providing gentle guidance can help minimize disruptions.

Taking Off Shoes and Socks

Taking off your shoes can release odors and make fellow passengers uncomfortable. If you need to remove your shoes, keeping your socks on and ensuring your feet are clean can mitigate any discomfort for others. Respect for shared spaces includes maintaining personal cleanliness.

Talking to Someone Who Doesn’t Want to Chat

Not everyone is open to conversation during a flight, preferring to rest or work instead. Recognizing and respecting these social cues ensures that all passengers can enjoy their journey as they wish. A polite introduction can gauge interest in conversation without imposing.

Leaving a Mess Behind

Discarding trash, leaving crumbs, or spilling drinks without cleaning up shows a lack of consideration for the crew and the next passengers. Using the provided trash bags and tidying your area before deplaning demonstrates respect for those who work to keep the cabin clean. A clean seat area contributes to a pleasant environment for everyone.

Ignoring Personal Boundaries

Encroaching on another’s space, whether through physical presence or with belongings, can lead to discomfort. Awareness of your personal space and ensuring your items do not overflow into others’ areas fosters a respectful environment.

Speaking loudly, laughing boisterously, or playing media without headphones can disrupt those seeking a quiet environment to rest or work. Using a moderate volume and headphones for personal devices is respectful to others’ space. Remember, sound travels easily in the cabin, affecting many passengers.

Talking On The Phone

This action is generally seen as rude due to the confined space, where passengers are in close proximity and unable to escape the conversation. The constant sound of one-sided conversations disrupts the quiet environment, making it difficult for others to relax or concentrate on their activities. Additionally, the lack of privacy in these conversations often forces everyone nearby to inadvertently eavesdrop, leading to discomfort and frustration among fellow travelers. null null

Ignoring Flight Attendant Instructions

Flight attendants provide safety instructions and guidelines to protect all passengers on board. Disregarding their directions can compromise safety and disrupt the flight experience for others. Compliance with crew instructions is not only a matter of respect but also a requirement for safety.

Crowding the Aisle Before Your Turn

Rushing to stand in the aisle as soon as the plane lands creates unnecessary congestion and delays the deboarding process. Waiting patiently for your turn to deboard demonstrates respect for the crew and fellow passengers. Efficient deboarding relies on everyone cooperating and following the crew’s instructions.

Not Using Headphones

Forcing others to listen to your music, games, or videos is inconsiderate and can be avoided by using headphones. Keeping the volume at a level that only you can hear ensures that everyone’s personal space is respected. This simple act of courtesy makes the travel experience better for everyone.

While flying, respect and consideration for our fellow travelers can transform the journey into a harmonious experience. By adhering to simple etiquette and being mindful of the shared space, we can mitigate the impact of those few disruptive behaviors, ensuring that air travel remains a marvel of modern convenience and connectivity. Ultimately, it’s the collective effort of all passengers to foster a courteous and pleasant atmosphere that makes the skies friendlier for everyone.

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Airlines must cough up cancellation cash and can no longer hide fees under new federal rule

A federal rule announced Wednesday will require airlines to quickly give cash refunds — without lengthy arguments — to passengers whose flights have been canceled or seriously delayed, the Biden administration said.

“Passengers deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them — without headaches or haggling,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.

The rule from the Transportation Department says passengers who decline other reimbursement like travel credits are to get cash refunds.

It applies when a flight is canceled or has a “significant change,” the administration said.A “significant change” includes when departure or arrival times are three or more hours different from the scheduled times for domestic flights or six hours for international flights, and when the airport is changed or connections are added, it said.

Passengers are also to get refunds when their baggage is 12 hours late in delivery for domestic flights.

The new rule comes after promises to hold airlines accountable after major disruptions that made travel hell for passengers, including the 2022 Southwest Airlines meltdown , which resulted in almost 17,000 significantly delayed or canceled flights and a missing baggage nightmare.

The Transportation Department said that the new rule means refunds are automatic and that "airlines must automatically issue refunds without passengers having to explicitly request them or jump through hoops."

Also announced Wednesday was a rule requiring airlines to more clearly disclose so-called junk fees upfront, such as surprise baggage or other fees, the department said.

It said that rule is expected to save fliers around $500 million a year.

The surprise fees are used so tickets look cheaper than they really are, and then fliers get the unwelcome surprise of fees on checked bags, carry-on bags or reservation changes — or even discounts that are advertised but apply to only part of the ticket price, officials said.

Airlines will also have to tell fliers clearly that their seats are guaranteed and that they don't have to pay extra to ensure they have seats for flights, according to the Transportation Department.

Airlines for America, an industry trade group, said that its member airlines “offer transparency and vast choice to consumers from first search to touchdown” and that they do offer cash refunds.

The 11 largest U.S. airlines returned $10.9 billion in cash refunds last year, an increase over $7.5 billion in 2019 but slightly down from $11.2 billion in 2022, the group said.

“U.S. airlines are providing more options and better services while ticket prices, including ancillary revenues, are at historic lows,” Airlines for America said.

Left out of the federal changes announced Wednesday are those involving "family seating fees," but the Transportation Department said in a statement that "DOT is planning to propose a separate rule that bans airlines from charging these junk fees."

Travelers have complained to the Transportation Department that children weren’t seated next to accompanying adults, including in some cases young children, department officials said last year.

Fees on bags specifically have made up an increasing amount of airline revenues, the Transportation Department said Wednesday in announcing the new rules.

A Transportation Department analysis found that airline revenue from baggage fees increased 30% from 2018 to 2022, while operating revenue — which is from the flights themselves — increased by only half that amount, the department said.

Jay Blackman is an NBC News producer covering such areas as transportation, space, medical and consumer issues.

Phil Helsel is a reporter for NBC News.

These Are The Best Airlines To Fly This Year

WalletHub's report on the best airlines in 2024 makes it easier to choose which airlines to fly with on that next vacation!

• SkyWest Airlines ranks second overall in the US among the best airlines, known for exceptional service, reliability, and an extensive route network for major carriers.
• Spirit Airlines is recognized as one of the safest low-cost airlines, making advancements in safety while still offering reasonable prices.
• Alaska Airlines has reclaimed the top spot as the best airline in the US, excelling in affordability, in-flight comfort, safety, and overall performance metrics.

Getting ready for that next trip but indecisive about which airline to take? No worries! A report by WalletHub is ready to help. It evaluated major US airlines based on 13 criteria divided into three major categories: in-flight comfort and cost, baggage and departures, and safety. As for the metrics, they include cancelation rates, delays, mishandled baggage, denied boarding, in-flight amenities, price, and safety records.

Airlines were scored based on specific criteria for each metric. The detailed scoring framework is provided, emphasizing factors like flight cancelations, legroom, entertainment options, Wi-Fi availability, complimentary refreshments, price competitiveness, and others.

In a time when airlines will now owe money to passengers for mistakes , such as cancelations, delays, and lost baggage, among others, there's never been a better time for them to improve their services and impress. According to WalletHub's findings, these are the best airlines to fly this year that have done precisely that and more, having flown above and beyond.

These Are The Airlines With The Happiest Pilots

7 hawaiian airlines, score: 48.30.

Hawaiian Airlines has won several awards throughout the years, including being recognized by the US Department of Transportation as the airline with the best punctuality every year since 2004 .

This airline is well-known in Hawaii for having a significant impact on the development and current history of the state. It is the biggest and most established airline in the state , and in 2029 it will celebrate its centenary.

Hawaiian Airlines provides nonstop service to ten overseas locations in Asia and the South Pacific, in addition to several cities in North America and all the major Hawaiian Islands. Island-hopping travelers will board a Boeing 717, which is intended for short-haul travel.

6 JetBlue Airways

Score: 51.60.

JetBlue Airlines, one of the best airlines in the US, offers three classes of service: economy, Even More Space, and Mint, each with various amenities. Boarding occurs in 10 groups, prioritizing disabilities and loyalty status. Its loyalty program, TrueBlue, offers multiple tiers for frequent flyers. JetBlue primarily serves the U.S., Caribbean, and Latin America, with some transatlantic routes.

While it's not part of a major alliance, it partners with several airlines. Pricing is competitive, and points can be earned through flights and partners. Safety ratings are high, but operational reliability varies. Travelers are recommended to consider JetBlue if they prioritize affordability, comfort, and connectivity, but they should note its route limitations and operational performance.

According To Flight Attendants: These Are The Strictest Airlines To Work For

5 united airlines, score: 51.96.

Offering an extensive and constantly expanding network of worldwide destinations, the Chicago-based carrier, United Airlines, has eight hubs around the United States and connects travelers to hundreds of international destinations.

In fact, three island locations that have historically proven difficult to reach from the United States are among the recent additions to its destination roster. These are the Azores, Mallorca, and the Canary Islands.

In recent years, the airline has added 270 more Boeing and Airbus aircraft to its fleet. In addition to being more luxurious and technologically advanced, the new aircraft is anticipated to save carbon emissions by 17 to 20 percent per seat when compared to earlier models, making it more appealing and one of the best airlines to fly with this year.

Environmentally focused travelers may be interested in knowing more about going green when traveling .

The Best Low-Cost Airline In Europe For 2024

4 delta air lines, score: 61.56.

High honors are still given to Delta for the caliber of its in-flight services and its on-ground amenities, which include luxurious Sky Clubs at major American airports. An example of this can be found at the airline's magnificent new $4 billion terminal at the renovated LaGuardia Airport in New York , which features high ceilings, wood and marble accents, and eye-catching works by regional artists.

Additionally, Delta is attempting to make flying as easy as possible with its high-tech advances during boarding and check-in. Additionally, free text messaging and comfortable Delta One business class suites on its new Airbus A350 jetliners and other wide-body aircraft are appreciated by passengers as in-flight amenities.

Travelers will be able to take advantage of these benefits on travels to even farther-flung locations, such as Tahiti and Cape Town, because of an increasing route map.

3 Spirit Airlines

Score: 65.69.

Spirit Airlines has the third position among the top-rated airlines in the US to fly this year in WalletHub's report. Spirit Airlines is typically seen as low-cost travel and might not always be seen as a competitor when it comes to overall service quality. However, it appears that Spirit has advanced significantly in areas like safety that go beyond price.

Travelers are beginning to value the airline more and more, as seen by its ranking as one of the safest low-cost airlines in 2024 . Spirit Airlines' exceptional record in several safety criteria, such as incident and accident rates, has earned it the title of the safest airline . Additionally, Spirit Airlines is said to be the least expensive airline in 2024 , providing flights at reasonable prices.

These 10 Airlines Are Putting Sustainability At The Forefront (& Why It Matters)

2 skywest airlines, score: 65.96.

SkyWest Airlines is the second-best airline in the United States according to WalletHub , renowned for its exceptional service and reliability. Operating as a regional airline for major carriers like Delta, United, American, and Alaska Airlines, SkyWest maintains an impressive fleet and an extensive route network across North America. It is known for its safety record and consistently earns high marks for on-time performance and customer satisfaction.

SkyWest's commitment to quality extends to its fleet, featuring modern aircraft equipped with the latest amenities and technology. Moreover, its professional and courteous staff ensures passengers receive top-notch service throughout their journey. With a focus on safety, reliability, and customer service, SkyWest Airlines continues to excel as one of the best airlines in the US, earning the trust and loyalty of travelers nationwide.

1 Alaska Airlines

Score: 68.07.

Alaska Airlines knocked over Delta Air Lines, which was placed first as the best airline in 2023 and 2022 , to be named the top airline in the United States according to this year's study, which had the highest WalletHub score. Alaska Airlines has been named #1 in several previous WalletHub rankings, including those from 2021, 2019, 2018, and 2017 .

Relentless performance and a dedication to customer satisfaction vaulted Alaska Airlines back to the top of the rankings. The best airline has reclaimed the number one spot because of its outstanding and steady performance on several different criteria. The airline has surpassed expectations in terms of affordability and comfort for in-flight entertainment, offering free beverages, lots of legroom, and a variety of entertainment selections.

It has also shown to have strong safety protocols, as seen by its top position in safety-related metrics, including the number of injuries sustained in aviation mishaps and incidents.

The airline's return to the top spot has been facilitated by its balanced performance across many aviation-related metrics. Furthermore, it is not unexpected that its route map, which stretches from Hawaii to New York and from the Pacific Northwest to Mexico and Latin America, has surpassed the geographical boundaries of its name.

Terminals - flight & hotel 17+

Abdullah al-johani, designed for iphone, iphone screenshots, description.

Planning a getaway with friends, business trip or a family holiday? What’s better than low-cost flights deals? Select from 300+ destinations using Saudi Arabia’s leading travel app for the best booking experience with secure payment options. SIMPLY SEARCH AND BOOK -Browse and filter thousands of flights and over 1.5 million hotels. -Explore flights options with a wide range of airlines such as Saudia Airlines, flynas, Emirates, British Airways and more. -Sort flights by price range, number of stops and other factors. -Filter hotels by location, price range, star rating and more. -Choose to pay now or later at the hotel for hotel bookings. -Book return flights with different airlines for your trips. ORGANISE YOUR ENTIRE HOLIDAY Who we are? Terminals is a Saudi travel app that helps you discover the ease of travel, where finding the best flight and hotel deals worldwide is at your fingertips. Our app connects you with hundreds of airlines and hotels, ensuring you have a vast selection to craft your perfect journey. With a user-friendly interface and advanced search features, Terminals simplifies trip planning, offering last-minute deals, and ensuring a seamless, secure booking process. Join Terminals for exclusive offers and a hassle-free travel experience that starts with just one click. Your next adventure is closer than you think

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only update screen shot of app connect and update same build to update screen shot

App Privacy

The developer, Abdullah Al-johani , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

Data Not Linked to You

The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

• Financial Info
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Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

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Politics latest: Scottish first minister Yousaf resigns after 'biggest political miscalculation of his career'

Humza Yousaf has announced his resignation as SNP leader and Scotland's first minister following the fallout from his decision to end the SNP's powersharing agreement with the Scottish Greens.

Monday 29 April 2024 15:56, UK

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

• Yousaf quits as Scottish FM after ending powersharing deal
• Outgoing SNP leader admits he 'underestimated' hurt caused
• The contenders who could replace him in Scotland's top job
• Analysis: The biggest political miscalculation of Yousaf's career
• Explained: How did we get here - and what happens next?
• Tap here to follow Politics At Jack And Sam's
• Live reporting by Faith Ridler and (earlier)  Samuel Osborne

Humza Yousaf's decision to sack the Green Party from his coalition ultimately triggered a series of events that sealed his political fate, our Scotland correspondent Connor Gillies reports.

"It was the biggest political miscalculation of his career that sealed the fate of the first minister," he said, speaking after Mr Yousaf announced he will step down ( see 12.04 post ).

Ending the three-year powersharing deal at Holyrood was a "fatal mistake" which saw the "walls come closing in".

Those close to Mr Yousaf had suggested that agreement "had become a liability within government and many in the SNP were uneasy about how many strings they were pulling".

"So he got rid of them and that triggered a set of events in motion that ultimately led to this moment and ultimately led to his demise."

No confidence votes

No confidence motions were looming at the Scottish parliament later this week, and he was facing wipeout and a backlash of "no" votes from the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, who were furious. 

"And then at that stage there was a suggestion that the ALBA party, Alex Salmond's party, would prop up the SNP government with their one MSP, Ash Regan," Gillies added. 

"That was just a step too far. Allies and sources close to Scotland's first minister said, 'look, that would be like doing a deal with the devil'. 

"So, there was only one other option and that was to resign."

Stepping in for Sturgeon

Gillies added an "interesting" element to this is how Mr Yousaf said to Sky News just 48 hours ago he would defy that vote of no confidence.

"On a human level, this is a man who is well-liked within the SNP," Gillies said. 

"He is a man who stepped up to the plate when Nicola Sturgeon stepped down last year, and he was always going to have a battle ahead."

But even his closest of allies, Gillies said, would realise "he was not Nicola Sturgeon, and he did not command her authority".

Hamas should accept the "generous" ceasefire package which has been put on the table, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the first time, he said Hamas must leave Gaza in order for a two-state solution to become a reality.

"Hamas are not currently in favour of a two-state solution," he said.

"They are in favour of a no Israel solution."

He added the conflict in Gaza will not end until all hostages taken by Hamas are freed and claimed a proposed truce deal presented by Israel includes the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners.

"I hope Hamas do take this deal and frankly all the pressure in the world and all the eyes of the world should be on them today, saying 'take that deal'. It will bring about this stop in the fighting that we all want to see so badly," he said.

Follow the latest in our Middle East blog here:

Continuing his news conference, Chris Heaton-Harris said the relationship between the UK and Ireland is "strong enough to deal with" a dispute over new legacy laws.

The Northern Ireland secretary defended the establishment of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery as a move in "an important direction".

"This new body starts work on the first of May - on Wednesday - and is completely independent, has a huge budget and has unprecedented disclosure by the UK State about what went on during the times of the Troubles to try and get some information to those families that wish to have it.

"So, yeah, we're bound to have politics and various political debates between us.

"But I'd like to think our relationship is strong enough to deal with all of those issues."

The issue of asylum seekers crossing from the UK into the Republic of Ireland is an indication Rishi Sunak's Rwanda scheme is already working as a deterrent, the Northern Ireland secretary has said.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Irish deputy prime minister Michael Martin in Westminster, Chris Heaton-Harris said: "The UK's new deterrent is clearly working and having some impact already.

"An impact that will obviously increase as the first flights take off for Rwanda."

He added: "We will obviously monitor all this very closely and continue to work with the Irish government on these matters."

The cabinet minister said while the deterrent effect of the Rwanda scheme was anticipated "we are slightly surprised that it manifested itself so quickly after the act became law".

The SNP's Westminster leader has praised Humza Yousaf's "integrity, compassion and commitment" during his time as Scotland's first minister.

Posting on X Stephen Flynn, the MP for Aberdeen South, said: "Humza Yousaf has served Scotland with integrity, compassion and commitment.

"The challenges he has faced have been huge, yet at every turn he has led from the front.

"There can be no doubt that he has now laid the groundwork required to take our country forward. I wish him well."

Nicola Sturgeon has praised Humza Yousaf's "grace, dignity and integrity" after he announced he is stepping down as Scotland's first minister.

In a post on X, Mr Yousaf's predecessor said: "I know how big a privilege being first minister is, but also the toll it can take.

"I also know what a wrench it is to step aside, even when sure it is the right thing to do.

"Humza has conducted himself with grace, dignity, and integrity - both as FM and in the manner of his leaving. 

"I am and always will be proud to call him a friend."

Humza Yousaf has quit as Scotland's first minister and leader of the SNP.

We take a look back at how the 39-year-old rose through the ranks to become Scotland's top politician.

Mr Yousaf - the MSP for Glasgow Pollok - was born in the city on 7 April 1985 to a Pakistani father and Kenyan mother.

He was privately educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School in Glasgow and became interested in politics during his youth.

He went on to study the topic at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 2007 with an MA.

During his time at university, he joined the SNP. He was also president of the Muslim Students Association and was involved in the Students' Representative Council.

It was straight to Holyrood for Mr Yousaf, taking a job as a parliamentary assistant to the SNP's Bashir Ahmad - Scotland's first Muslim MSP.

After Mr Ahmad's death two years later, he carried on the role and worked as an assistant for a number of MSPs, including Nicola Sturgeon and the then-first minister Alex Salmond, solidifying his place in the party.

Read more about Mr Yousaf's life in politics from our Scotland reporter Jenness Mitchell here:

Labour has made hay with the chaos surrounding the Tory party in Westminster, and could do the same with the SNP in Scotland, says our deputy political editor Sam Coates .

Given Humza Yousaf's resignation today, after just 13 months in office, Sir Keir Starmer could consider himself "quite a lucky general".

"He watched in many ways the collapse of the Conservative Party, and saw the Tory poll rating crash, and now more problems for the SNP which has such a hold on Scottish politics," said Sam.

"That grip seems to be loosening.

"Many in Labour will be quite happy about what they're seeing."

It's been pointed out many times that a path to power for Labour at the next general election will likely require some form of recovery in Scotland, where the SNP has been dominant since the 2014 independence referendum.

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Douglas Ross, has said the outgoing first minister "decided to jump before he was pushed" by announcing his resignation today.

Humza Yousaf "knew his future was on a knife edge" as he faced up to two confidence votes this week, Mr Ross said, adding he had quit "because of the pressure we had put on as the main opposition party".

But there was no sign of Mr Ross and the Scottish Tories looking to offer their backing for a new SNP first minister.

Having seen off Mr Yousaf, Mr Ross said his party was now focused on "seeking to replace this tired, failing, nationalist government who have prioritised independence above everything else".

Holyrood is in a "terrible situation" following the resignation of Scotland's first minister, one of Humza Yousaf's predecessors has said.

Henry McLeish, who was first minister under Labour from 2000 until 2001, said while Mr Yousaf had shown "a bit of grace" and "humility" by quitting today - there was "no way he could continue in office".

He told Sky News his decision to end the SNP's powersharing deal with the Scottish Greens was more evidence of how "politically divided" Scotland had become.

Mr McLeish told Sky News his homeland is in desperate need of some "unity" and called for all parties to start thinking like a "coalition", even if not in practice.

Labour's call for an immediate election at Holyrood is - like their demand for one at Westminster - not likely to go anywhere, he added.

Humza Yousaf has announced he is standing down as Scotland's first minister and SNP leader.

Our Scotland reporter Jenness Mitchell reports on some of the potential contenders who could step up to lead the country:

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