virgin trip to space cost

Virgin Galactic is selling tickets to space again, now for $450,000 per seat

That's nearly twice the previously stated price.

Virgin Galactic has started selling seats on its suborbital spaceliner again — but the price has gone up.

The company, part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, halted ticket sales in December 2018, shortly after its VSS Unity vehicle reached suborbital space for the first time on a piloted test flight. Back then, the price was $250,000 per seat. 

On Thursday (Aug. 5), Virgin Galactic announced that it's reopening ticket sales, effectively immediately, with a starting price of $450,000 per seat. 

In photos: Virgin Galactic's 1st fully crewed spaceflight with Richard Branson

The move comes in the wake of Unity's fourth spaceflight, which occurred July 11 from Spaceport America in New Mexico. That test mission was Unity's first fully crewed trip to the final frontier; the space plane carried Branson and three other people in its cabin, as well as two pilots in the cockpit.

"As we endeavor to bring the wonder of space to a broad global population, we are delighted to open the door to an entirely new industry and consumer experience," Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement Thursday that also announced the company's financial results for the second quarter of 2021. 

Virgin Galactic is offering customers three options: purchase a single seat, buy several together or book an entire flight on the eight-passenger Unity (or other space planes that come into operation, such as the recently built VSS Imagine ). The company also sells seats for microgravity research and professional astronaut training. Those are in a different tier, going for $600,000 apiece, Colglazier said during a call with investors on Thursday afternoon.

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VSS Unity lifts off under the wing of a carrier plane called VMS Eve, which hauls the space plane to an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 meters). At that point, the spaceliner drops free, ignites its onboard rocket motor and blasts itself to suborbital space . 

Passengers experience three to four minutes of weightlessness and get to see Earth against the blackness of space before coming back down to Earth for a runway landing, about an hour after takeoff.

About 600 people have booked a ride to date, Virgin Galactic representatives said. But they expect that number to rise considerably now, given the intense interest in the July 11 flight.

That mission "was an inflection point for our global brand," Colglazier said during Thursday's call. "We created a cultural moment. We saw incredible global engagement, with viewership coming from over 65 countries. Millions of space enthusiasts around the planet shared a glimpse into the journey the Virgin Galactic future astronauts can expect, and they loved it."

Colglazier also shared some timeline updates during the call. Unity's next flight, a revenue-generating mission that will carry members of the Italian Air Force , is now expected to launch in late September, he said.

After that flight is complete, VMS Eve will fly to the Mojave, California, headquarters of The Spaceship Company, Virgin Galactic's manufacturing subsidiary. There, Eve will receive a series of "enhancements," which include the strengthening of various structural components. 

This work is designed to allow Eve to fly 100 times between major inspections as opposed to the current 10 — a huge jump that will boost Virgin Galactic's flight rate significantly down the road, Colglazier said. (The company eventually plans to fly extremely frequently, with fleets of space planes and carrier planes stationed at spaceports around the world.)

Eve is expected back at Spaceport America around the middle of next year. Virgin Galactic will fly one more fully crewed test flight shortly thereafter, then shift to full commercial operations in the third quarter of 2022, if all goes according to plan.

Virgin Galactic has one chief competitor in the suborbital space tourism industry — Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, which flew its first crewed spaceflight on July 20 . (Bezos himself was on that flight.) Blue Origin has not yet announced how much a seat will coast aboard its New Shepard vehicle, a reusable rocket-capsule combo.

Mike Wall is the author of " Out There " (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. 

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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with  Space.com  and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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How much is a seat on Virgin Galactic? $450,000. Here's what each trip includes.

Virgin Galactic will soon sell tickets for space trips to the public. The catch? They cost $450,000.

On Tuesday, the aerospace company announced plans to sell tickets to the general public to snag a seat for a future spaceflight.

Reservations open up Feb. 16 and will cost $450,000. Potential travelers must pay a $150,000 deposit to hold the spot, then pay the rest before their flight. Tickets will be available to 1,000 customers for trips later this year.

The flights will take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico. Virgin Galactic said  trips will last about 90 minutes.

"The spaceship gracefully flips while astronauts enjoy several minutes of out-of-seat weightlessness and breath-taking views of Earth from the spaceship’s 17 windows," reads a statement from the company.

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Virgin Galactic is among several companies including SpaceX and Blue Origin – run by tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos respectively – pressing forward with plans to eventually support commercial space travel.

On July 11, Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson was among six crewmembers who traveled aboard the company's space plane, the VSS Unity. Two months later, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating the flight .

Blue Origin launched a manned flight on July 20 with Bezos among the members of the crew. In September, SpaceX launched its first flight with an all-civilian crew.

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter:  @brettmolina23 .

A first-of-its-kind flight. A one-of-a-kind experience.

Our unique and innovative Spaceflight System enables you and your fellow astronauts to enjoy the most thrilling and awe-inspiring journey of your life, in unparalleled comfort and ease.

VMS Eve is a custom-built, four-engine, dual-fuselage jet carrier aircraft with a unique high-altitude, heavy-payload capability. It is also the world’s largest all-carbon aviation vehicle in service.

Our hybrid propulsion system combines the inherent stability of a solid rocket motor and the controllability of a liquid rocket motor. It is simpler and safer by design.

Your individually size-adjusted seat has been built to enhance your comfort and experience during each stage of flight.

A minute of high-octane, high-g euphoria is followed by absolute silence, absolute space.

17 windows — more than any other commercial spacecraft in history – with built-in hand grabs to optimize zero-g viewing.

Astronauts frequently report a cognitive shift in awareness and perspective brought about by viewing the Earth from space. This has become known as the Overview Effect.

While in space, astronauts are free to leave their seats for the effortless freedom of zero gravity.

Virgin Galactic currently offsets emissions for each spaceflight, and we are always working towards innovations that make our flights and daily operations more sustainable.

Our engineering teams are hard at work to quickly bring more spaceships online and facilitate your spaceflight.

Our pilots go above and beyond.

As the spaceline for Earth, we’re pleased to offer you an elegant, spaceflight system designed for safety, reusability and customer experience. You’ll be in the expert hands of our highly experienced pilots, all with long flight careers behind them.

World-class safety.

At Virgin Galactic, safety has always been our North Star and an ethos that’s deeply embedded into our culture, evidenced by an exhaustive test flight program and highly experienced operational teams drawn from the world of aerospace and aviation.

The Virgin Galactic spaceflight system has been specifically designed to reduce and make risk more manageable, throughout the entire flight.

Vital to this is an air-launched, winged and piloted spaceship with a fully controllable propulsion system, enabling us to cut a flight short, safely and comfortably at any stage.

“Feeling the power of the motor behind me, and seeing the sky change from blue to black ahead – it was an experience unlike any I’ve ever had. While the speed and force was exhilarating, I felt safe and comfortable at all times.”

Sirisha Bandla -

Virgin Galactic Astronaut 004

Virgin Galactic opens ticket sales to the general public

Planning a vacation this year? How about something a little more weightless?

Virgin Galactic , the space tourism company founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, announced Tuesday that it will begin selling tickets this week for joyrides to the edge of space. The cost: a whopping $450,000.

Starting Wednesday, members of the public will be able to reserve a spot on an upcoming suborbital spaceflight.

"We plan to have our first 1,000 customers on board at the start of commercial service later this year," Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic, said in a statement.

During the 90-minute flight, passengers will reach an altitude of more than 50 miles and experience roughly four minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth.

Space tourists will fly aboard the company's rocket-powered vehicle, known as SpaceShipTwo Unity. The craft is designed to take off on a conventional runway while attached to the underbelly of a carrier ship. The vehicles fly to 50,000 feet, where Unity is released and its engine ignites to power it to the edge of space.

Virgin Galactic’s joyrides take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico. Reservations include several days of training and spaceflight preparedness programs, according to the company.

Last year, Branson himself flew to the edge of space on Virgin Galactic's first expedition with a full crew. That July flight later became the focus of a mishap investigation by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, after it was determined that the SpaceShipTwo craft went off course from its assigned airspace during its descent.

The FAA grounded the space tourism company while the investigation took place, but in late September, Virgin Galactic was cleared to return to flight . At the time, the FAA said the company had made "required changes" to how it communicates during missions. Virgin Galactic also said it had taken steps to expand protected airspace for upcoming flights.

Branson's suborbital jaunt in 2021 came less than two weeks before fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos also reached the edge of space aboard a rocket and capsule designed by his own space company, Blue Origin.

The much-hyped stunts marked a new era in the private spaceflight industry, fueled by rivalries among companies such as Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic.

Blue Origin has not announced how much suborbital flights aboard its New Shepard rocket and capsule will cost, though tickets are likely to be in the range of several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

SpaceX, which has been ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station since 2020, has been more focused on orbital tourism. The company made history last year after it launched four private passengers into orbit on the first mission to space with an all-civilian crew .

In March, SpaceX is partnering with the Houston-based company Axiom Space to launch a retired NASA astronaut and three private customers — each of whom reportedly paid $55 million — to the International Space Station.

Denise Chow is a reporter for NBC News Science focused on general science and climate change.

Virgin Galactic's Commercial Spaceflight: Cost and How to Sign Up

Sir Richard Branson's spaceflight company Virgin Galactic has received FAA approval for commercial spaceflight and has taken 600 reservations.

Jun. 28 2021, Published 11:29 a.m. ET

A different kind of space race is underway than the space race of the 20th century. Sir Richard Branson is among the competitors seeking to send commercial flights into space. His rocket company Virgin Galactic is preparing to start that journey soon.

How will flights on Virgin Galactic work and how much will it cost to secure a seat on one of them? Recently, the company announced its approval by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to start launching customers into space. The entrepreneur founder Branson plans to ride on one of his company’s upcoming test spaceflights as well.

Requirements for customers to fly Virgin Galactic

Known as “the world’s first commercial spaceline,” Virgin Galactic has a signup portal on its website for people who are interested in the company. The next round of reservations for space flights isn't currently open. The reservations will open up sometime following Branson’s own flight into space.

People can sign up online and indicate whether they’re interested in reservations, research, or other updates from Virgin Galactic.

Astronauts on SpaceShipTwo will undergo a three-day training program at Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America. Then, they will board SpaceShipTwo, which will launch from the carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo. Customers will also be able to get out of their seats for a few minutes to experience weightlessness before they return to Earth.

How much does a seat on a Virgin Galactic flight cost?

According to Branson , the spacecraft will “open space to everybody—and change the world for good.” Of course, the cost to reach space is significant.

Over 600 people have already reserved their seats on future Virgin Galactic flights, with a reported initial price tag of $250,000 to secure a spot. However, that price might increase with the next round of flight reservations.

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo is said to offer safe and comfortable exposure to G-forces. SpaceShipTwo also has more windows than any other spacecraft to provide impressive views to astronauts (passengers).

When will Virgin Galactic start flying commercially?

The third Virgin Galactic spaceflight in May successfully reached an altitude of 55 miles or 89 kilometers. CEO Michael Colglazier said that flight’s success plus the FAA approval give the company confidence moving forward, according to USA Today .

A date for the first commercial flight isn’t known yet, although it will likely happen in 2022 after the three additional test flights planned for the summer and fall.

How Virgin Galactic compares to Blue Origin and SpaceX

Virgin Galactic's key competitors in the race to commercial spaceflight are Blue Origin, the company founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX . Recently, Blue Origin announced that its founder Jeff Bezos will fly into space on July 20, accompanied by his brother Mark Bezos and the winner of an online auction.

So far, Blue Origin hasn't made a public announcement regarding when it might start offering flights to the public or how much that privilege would cost.

According to USA Today , both SpaceX and Blue Origin will operate reusable rockets that launch fully automated capsules from the ground. In comparison, Virgin Galactic has developed a winged spacecraft that needs two pilots and launches from within an airplane.

Latest Virgin Galactic News and Updates

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Virgin Galactic flight to the edge of space: your questions answered

Billionaire Branson will experience five minutes of weightlessness before gravity reclaims him, like the rest of us

British business mogul Richard Branson is going to the edge of space with three other people. If the flight goes as planned, Branson will be the first billionaire to reach space on his own commercial vehicle, pipping rival Jeff Bezos by a little more than a week.

Branson’s Virgin Galactic, which is aiming to develop space tourism, will carry its founder on what will be the 22nd flight test for the company’s spaceplane VSS Unity. It will also be the first time the spaceplane will carry a full crew of two pilots and four mission specialists (one of whom is Branson).

VSS Unity will take flight from Virgin Atlantic’s base at Spaceport America in New Mexico. Virgin Atlantic will stream the flight on YouTube, starting at 9am ET.

What will Branson do on Sunday?

He will fly to space for an up-and-down test flight on VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic’s sub-orbital rocket-powered space plane . He will fly with two pilots, Dave MacKay and Michael Masucci, and three other passengers, Virgin’s chief astronaut instructor, Beth Moses, operations engineer, Colin Bennett, and Sirisha Bandla, Virgin’s vice-president for government affairs and research operations.

How will he fly?

The VSS Unity will take off from Virgin Galactic’s facilities on a mothership plane called VMS Eve. The mothership will carry and then drop VSS Unity at about 10 miles above sea level. The space plane will then immediately fire its rocket engines, tilt upwards and accelerate to three times the speed of sound to reach the edge of space.

There the spacecraft will drift in space as the pilots shut off the engine. The passengers will be able to see the Earth below through the plane’s windows. They will stay in this weightless state for a few minutes before the gravity of Earth begins to pull them down.

The VSS Unity will then rotate its wings and tail booms upwards. The plane then will plunge back to the Earth. At 10 miles above sea level, the wings will rotate back in place and glide to a runway landing.

Is it really going into space?

VSS Unity will reach 55 miles above sea level, which the United States air force and Nasa consider is past the boundary of outer space. But there is some dispute over where outer space begins.

How long will the space plane be up there?

The trip will last in total about two and a half hours. However, Branson and his team will only be weightless in space for four to five minutes before the craft tilts and returns to Earth.

How does this flight compare with Jeff Bezos’s planned flight?

While Branson will be flying on a spaceplane, Bezos will be taking a rocket to space. Blue Origin, Bezos’s space company, will be launching a booster rocket named New Shepard. When it reaches its highest arc, the capsule on the rocket will detach, giving passengers four minutes of weightlessness. New Shepard will reach a height of 65 miles, higher than Branson and above the Karman Line, which is seen as the boundary of space by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale , an international standard-setting body for aeronautics and astronautics .

The capsule will then fall back into the atmosphere as parachutes are deployed to slowly bring it down. The whole trip will only take 11 minutes. New Shepard will also be the first time Blue Origin sends humans into space. Virgin Galactic has already successfully sent pilots on three space flights.

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

by SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and MARCIA DUNN

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.

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

© 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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clock This article was published more than  4 years ago

How much does a ticket to space cost? Meet the people ready to fly.

After years of waiting, virgin galactic is close to flying tourists to the edge of space, but it will cost $250,000..

When Lori Fraleigh unwrapped the present her husband had given her for her 38th birthday, she found a curious surprise: a model of a spaceship. It was cool, sure, but a toy would be better suited for her young children, then 5 and 1, not her.

Then she noticed the ticket. It took Fraleigh, a Silicon Valley executive, a moment to realize what her husband had purchased for her: a trip to space with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. “I went through a lot of crazy emotions, like, ‘Did you really buy this?’ ” she recalled of the moment in 2011. “ ‘Do we still have enough money to remodel the kitchen?’ ”

Today, her children are 13 and 9. The kitchen remodel has long since been completed. But Fraleigh is still waiting for her trip to space.

For years, Branson has been pushing a quixotic vision for the future, where his spacecraft would ferry passengers off Earth as frequently as airplanes. But for all the talk about a new Space Age full of citizen astronauts, the journey has been fitful, and filled with setbacks, including the death of a test pilot in 2014 after a harrowing crash.

Virgin Galactic's quest for space

But now, 15 years after Branson founded Virgin Galactic, space tourism could be tantalizingly close to becoming a reality. The company has flown to the edge of space twice and says its first paying customers could reach space next year. Another space venture, Blue Origin, founded by Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos almost 20 years ago, hopes to conduct its first test flight with people this year, though it hasn’t announced prices or sold any tickets. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

And NASA recently announced that it would allow private citizens to fly to the International Space Station on spacecraft built by SpaceX and Boeing.

Which means that Fraleigh may soon finally get her five minutes of weightlessness, a view that promises to be spectacular and a test to see if she has the right stuff.

Fraleigh has dreamed of being an astronaut since she was a kid and has solid space geek credentials, including having attended Space Camp as a teenager.

What’s it really like to live in space? 50 astronauts share their stories

But she didn’t think she could become a NASA astronaut and instead became a tech executive in Silicon Valley, a career that meant her family could absorb Virgin Galactic’s charge ($200,000 per ticket in 2011) without financial hardship. A mother who spends weekends ferrying her children to soccer, baseball and music lessons, she doesn’t look like a thrill seeker. The most adventurous thing she’s done? Driving a go-cart in college, and “I’ve been on some hikes up in Lake Tahoe that were on the strenuous side.”

Now she’s preparing for a ride in Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, a sleek spaceplane with a rocket motor strong enough to send two pilots and as many as six passengers more than 50 miles high, where the Federal Aviation Administration says the edge of space begins. The spaceship is tethered to the belly of a large, twin-fuselage airplane that carries it to an altitude of about 40,000 feet. Then SpaceShipTwo is released, fires its engine and rockets off through the atmosphere.

For decades, people have dreamed of such adventures. After the Apollo missions, Pan Am started a waiting list for tickets to the moon that by 1971 stretched 90,000 names long. Famed CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite signed up, as did future president Ronald Reagan. Later, in the 1970s and early 1980s, NASA was so convinced that the space shuttle would, as the name implied, offer regular service to Earth orbit that a committee was formed to sort out the sticky problem of how to choose the first private citizens to fly.

For today’s space companies, it’s anyone willing — and wealthy enough — to pay the steep cost.

NASA said it would cost $35,000 a night for stays on the ISS, and the price to get there is estimated to be $50 million. Virgin Galactic has said it may in the short term raise the price of its tickets, which today cost $250,000.

Despite the high costs, Virgin Galactic expects high demand from the wealthy. While it completes the testing phase of the spacecraft this year, the company projects flying 66 paying customers in 2020, more than 700 in 2021 and nearly 1,000 the following year. By 2023, when it expects to fly 1,562 paying passengers on 270 flights, it plans to have nearly $600 million in annual revenue. Earlier this year, Virgin Galactic announced it would go public by merging with a New York investment firm, a move that Branson said would “open space to more investors and in doing so, open space to thousands of new astronauts.”

Already, 600 people have signed up for what Virgin Galactic describes as a transformative experience of seeing Earth from space, what astronauts call the “overview effect.” That’s more people than have been to space since 1961, when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space.

Second thoughts?

Craig Wichner, who runs Farmland LP, an organic farmland investment fund in San Francisco, has been waiting for the opportunity for more than a decade. In 2008, he plunked down several thousand dollars as a deposit to ride on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo with a bunch of friends who thought it’d make a great adventure.

“Who wants to do this with me?” a pal said at the time.

“Yep, I’m there,” Wichner responded.

But it wasn’t just the adventure that attracted Wichner; it was the opportunity to help push humanity out of the atmosphere, he said. Buying a ticket was like casting a vote for Branson’s spacefaring vision of the future — “my way of actually supporting his mission, his dream and helping advance humanity.”

In the years since, the dream has unfurled slowly as Virgin Galactic learned that building a spacecraft was not as easy as initially thought. But the repeated delays had an upside. They allowed Wichner to meet many of the other “future astronauts” who’d signed up with Virgin Galactic, space enthusiasts from 60 countries who now form a sort of exclusive fraternity. They meet occasionally, bonding over the prospect of a wild adventure.

“It was just this wonderful, eclectic mix of people from all around the world,” Wichner said.

Now, as the company gets closer to flying and his number may soon be called, there are other factors to consider. Weighing on Wichner is the realization that spaceflight is dangerous. In 2014, during a test flight, the spacecraft came apart, killing Michael Alsbury, one of the test pilots and a father of two.

Wichner’s reaction to the crash was “a general sadness at the cost.” But he was also inspired by the company’s perseverance, “the unwavering commitment to just keep moving forward,” he said.

Now, however, the opinions of his own children, ages 13 and 8, matter. They’re old enough to understand the consequences of failure.

“Sometimes they’re excited about me going into space, and sometimes they’re scared,” he said. “And so it’s not worth doing if they’re scared.”

NASA’s first ordinary citizen astronauts

NASA’s leaders were convinced that the space shuttle could turn ordinary citizens into astronauts and set about trying to decide which private citizens should go first.

“Space flight belongs to the public; they pay for it,” reads a NASA memo from 1982. “Therefore NASA’s objective has been to maintain the openness of the program and to invite the public to participate to the extent possible. Now a new opportunity has emerged. With the advent of the Shuttle, people need no longer participate vicariously but may participate directly.”

At the time, NASA Administrator James Beggs “was being barraged by people wanting to fly,” said Alan Ladwig, who ran what NASA called its “spaceflight participant program.” “He was getting all these VIPs and reporters calling him and saying they wanted to fly."

The singer John Denver was among those keen to go. He lobbied NASA for a ride, touting that he was an airplane pilot and an amateur astronomer who kept in shape by running four to five miles a day.

“If given the opportunity, I would go tomorrow,” he said at a Senate hearing about flying private citizens on the shuttle.

In 1984, NASA surveyed artists about the prospect of a writer or painter going to space and got this response from Maya Angelou, the award-winning poet, according to a Chicago Tribune article from the time:

“As poets over the centuries concentrated on Grecian urns, nightingales, ravens and romantic love, I am certain that poets in the future will focus on the configuration of planets, stars, weightlessness and the discovery of our universe.”

Ultimately, NASA decided to take people who could communicate the experience to others. First a teacher, then a journalist. NASA leaders “felt astronauts weren’t the greatest storytellers,” Ladwig said. “Some of which was true, some not so true. A lot of them were miffed that people criticized their communication ability.”

But first came a pair of powerful politicians.

Jake Garn, a Republican senator from Utah who headed the appropriations subcommittee that oversaw NASA’s budget, pushed to go, saying it was his obligation to “kick the tires” of NASA’s newest spacecraft. Less than a year later, Bill Nelson, then a Democratic congressman representing the Florida Space Coast, hitched a ride. There were also many non-NASA astronauts known as payload specialists who worked on specific projects in space and often had a particular technical expertise.

The White House, though, was looking forward to the flight of another civilian, Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire, who had been selected out of 11,000 applicants to fly on space shuttle Challenger in 1986. And NASA was deep in the process of picking the next civilian to fly — a journalist — when on Jan. 28, 1986, the Challenger’s booster exploded, killing McAuliffe and the other six astronauts on board. The shuttle would stay grounded for more than 2½ years and never achieve the frequency of flight NASA leaders had initially envisioned, averaging fewer than five flights a year.

No journalist ever flew. And the dreams of opening the shuttle to the general public were deferred.

Preparing for flight

While NASA shied away from flying private citizens after the explosion, the private sector kept pursuing it. In 2004, a venture backed by Paul Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, made history when it flew the first private vehicle to the edge of space to claim the $10 million Ansari X Prize .

The flights were heralded as a new Space Age, one where the private sector would end the government’s monopoly on space. But while the SpaceShipOne flights were successful, they were also harrowing; in one, the navigation system went awry and the pilot had to fly blind; in another, the spacecraft spun like a top all the way to space.

Worried that someone would die in his spacecraft, Allen sold the rights to the technology to Branson, who set off to build the bigger, more robust SpaceShipTwo. And after the X Prize, Congress took notice, growing concerned over what they saw as dangerously loose regulations governing the industry. Former congressman James Oberstar, of Minnesota, criticized the FAA as having a “tombstone mentality — wait until someone dies, then regulate.”

The industry pushed back, saying burdensome rules would stifle a growing industry just as it was getting started, and, backed by the FAA, was able to keep the regulations relatively lax. So today, space tourism, like bungee jumping or skydiving, is governed under an “informed consent” standard: Passengers acknowledge they understand the considerable risks, and zoom, off they’ll go to space. And to secure a launch license from the FAA, the companies have only to demonstrate how they will protect people and property on the ground in the event of a crash.

Late last year, two pilots flew Branson’s SpaceShipTwo to the edge of space. Though it did not go into orbit, it was the first launch of a spacecraft with humans from U.S. soil since the space shuttle was retired in 2011.

Then, in February, Virgin Galactic repeated the feat, this time with a crew member, Beth Moses, whose job is to prepare Virgin’s customers for their rides to space. For her, the trip was “mind-blowing,” as if “the sands of time of your life have stopped for a moment.”

Now that Virgin Galactic is getting closer to flying customers, Moses is starting to prepare them to make sure they get the most from the experience. “The one question I ask every one of our customers long before training is what do you most want to get out of your spaceflight?” she said. Some “want to do somersaults,” others want “a Zen, private experience.” Others are flying “to honor someone. . . . It’s an amazing variety.”

But she knows some will have concerns. Part of her job is to allay them, so participants “arrive ready to savor your space experience,” she said. “If you are concerned about any aspect of the flight, that’s what we’ll walk through and just explain it.”

Dee Chester, a 62-year-old retired schoolteacher from Newport Beach, Calif., bought her ticket in 2017, when she came into her inheritance. She said she has no hesitation about going and can’t wait for when her “little nose prints are on every window” of the spacecraft. “I want to do the Superman pose, and look at the Earth and see the very thin bands of the atmosphere. I just hope I’m not crying and miss it all because it’s a big wet blur.”

Now that his day of flying is getting closer, Wichner is getting excited, as well. But he still needs to have the frank conversation with his children, who remain wary.

“It’ll happen naturally, and I think they’ll be fine with me going,” he said.

Until they are, he won’t commit, leaving the future uncertain: “I don’t know that I’m actually going to go.”

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Balloon-powered 'space glamping' for only US$164,000 could start by 2026

Stratospheric balloon-powered flights will be longer, gentler, quieter, cheaper (and lower) than the likes of Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic

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A Spanish company that aims to take tourists to the edge of space compares its balloon-powered trips to the stratosphere as leisurely “glamping,” as distinct from the more brief, intense and rugged space tourism being offered by the likes of Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin.

HALO Space hopes to have its first commercial flight in 2026, and this month unveiled its pressurized capsule, called Aurora, at a press conference in London, England.

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The capsule — HALO sometimes refers to it as a “spaceship,” though it won’t fly high enough to reach what is generally considered outer space — stands about 3.5 metres tall and five metres wide, with an internal space of about 30 square feet, or 2.8 square metres. Cubic space isn’t measured because — again, unlike rocket-powered space tourism ventures — passengers will not achieve weightlessness during the trip.

Instead, up to eight passengers plus a pilot will embark on a six-hour journey, four of which will be spent in the stratosphere, 35 kilometres above the Earth. That’s high enough to see the blackness of space above, and the distinct curvature of the Earth below.

“It’s meant to be a sort of a glamping experience,” Frank Stephenson, who led the design work for the capsule, said at the press conference. “It’s a high-level experience for these people who are used to flying first class rather than economy.”

Rather than ascend by rocket power, the HALO capsule will be carried under a massive balloon some 140 metres tall. During descent, the balloon will detach from the capsule, which will then be brought down to the ground by a steerable parachute. The paraglider-type parachute was tested last year in a dry lakebed in California.

Balloon power also means the ascent will be at a leisurely 20 km/h. “The take-off will be like being in an elevator,” HALO CEO Carlos Mira said at the press conference.

If the G-forces aren’t as steep, neither are the prices. Blue Origin is notoriously tight-lipped about the costs of its suborbital space flights — William Shatner flew for free — but Virgin Galactic charges US$450,000 for a flight. HALO is a relative bargain at US$164,000 per ticket, though again, one-third the price gets you about one-third the distance above the Earth — 35 kilometres versus the 100 or so reached by the rocket rides.

HALO also isn’t the only company looking to cash in on the high-altitude balloon market. Florida-based Space Perspective recently unveiled its own “spaceship” (lofted by what it call a “SpaceBalloon”), which it plans to test-fly this year with the ambitious aim of welcoming paying passengers before the end of 2024. It’s advertising a price of US$125,000 per seat.

HALO, meanwhile, lofted a full-sized prototype capsule in late 2022, and expects to complete its first crewed test flight sometime next year.

“When you talk to astronauts, they tell you that this experience of watching the planet from above is really something unique and extraordinary,” Mira said. “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 says it will launch from locations in the Mojave Desert in the U.S., as well as Spain, Australia and Saudi Arabia.

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What will space tourists get when they fly with SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic? Spacesuits, sleeping bags ... and Jeff Bezos

• Virgin Galactic's $250,000 ticket to the edge of space includes a spacesuit.
• Passengers paying $55 million for SpaceX's mission to the ISS get sleeping bags, hygiene products.
• Blue Origin's $28 million spaceflight comes with a seat next to Jeff Bezos.
• See more stories on Insider's business page .

The era of space tourism has dawned.

Richard Branson  is scheduled to blast off in Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity on Sunday for the company's first fully-crewed rocket-powered test flight .

If the launch goes ahead as planned, he'll be 9 days ahead of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who plans to travel to the edge of space on July 20 in Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft.

Meanwhile, SpaceX's private mission with Axiom Space is scheduled to fly four passengers to the International Space Station (ISS) in early 2022.

Read more: As Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson blast off, here are 11 of the most exciting space startups according to VCs

The journeys certainly aren't cheap. Trips aboard Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity will cost passengers $250,000 apiece. A seat on Blue Origin's New Shepard craft was auctioned off at $28 million in June. And the four passengers traveling to the ISS on SpaceX's Crew Dragon will pay a cool $55 million a head.

The question is, what bang will they get for their buck?

SpaceX and Axiom

A ticket for Axiom's mission to the ISS will include:

• Mission planning
• Life support
• Medical support
• Crew provisions
• Eight days aboard the ISS

Staying on the ISS costs the astronauts about $6.8 million a day, NASA told The Verge in January.

Related stories

According to NASA's 2021 price list , it should cost $2,000 per crew member per day for food and drinks aboard the ISS. It'll also cost each person as much as $1,500 per day   for things like clothing, hygiene products, office supplies, and sleeping bags.

Blue Origin

The unnamed winner of Blue Origin's auction will accompany Jeff Bezos and his brother on an 11-minute trip on the New Shepard craft. For their $28 million they will be getting:

• On-site accommodation

Blue Origin hasn't yet disclosed commercial seat prices for flights on New Shepard.

Before stepping aboard, passengers must show they can deal with heights, walk on uneven surfaces, and support up to three times their weight, Insider previously reported.

"There are a couple days of training in advance of the flight," a Blue Origin spokesperson told Insider in June. "Some of the training includes learning procedures for getting into and out of the capsule, a mission simulation, and learning techniques for how to move around in zero-g."

Virgin Galactic

Around 600 customers across 58 countries have already forked out up to $250,000  for a seat on Virgin Galactic's Unity spacecraft, which will take them to the edge of space.

A spokesperson from Virgin Galactic told Insider that the ticket includes:

• A spacesuit

Unlike Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket, Unity won't pass the Kármán line, an imaginary boundary between the atmosphere and space. When Virgin Galactic's Unity reaches this height, passengers will experience several minutes of weightlessness before the spacecraft returns to Earth.

Branson, 70, has gone through months of training in preparation for his flight, which is scheduled for July 11.

Watch: How SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic plan on taking you to space

• Main content

Private islands and space flights: 9 of the most exclusive travel experiences you can book with points

You don't need me to remind you that points and miles can be used for fancy flights and posh hotel stays.

But did you know that your rewards can land you stays on private islands and potentially even a trip to space ?

Points and miles can do wonders. This post will examine the most exclusive travel experiences your rewards can buy. Not only are these uber-cool experiences, but they offer a decent value for your points, too.

Virgin Galactic flight to space

Hands down, the most unusual redemption you can make is on a drawing to win a trip to space with Virgin Galactic. The price? A cool 2 million Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points. Luckily, the points are only deducted from your account if you win.

Commercial flights launched in June . The trip will be a three-day experience that includes flight preparation and a two-hour space flight with at least five minutes of weightlessness.

Although Flying Club is a transfer partner of all the major transferable points programs— American Express Membership Rewards , Chase Ultimate Rewards , Capital One , Citi ThankYou Rewards , Marriott Bonvoy and Bilt Rewards — there's one major restriction. The terms and conditions explicitly state that only points earned on Virgin Atlantic flights qualify for eligibility into the drawing. You also can't transfer points from other members' accounts.

Ticket prices for Virgin Galactic space flights currently start at $450,000, so you'd be getting 22.5 cents in value per point, which is phenomenal. TPG valuations peg Virgin points at 1.5 cents apiece.

Related: You could soon redeem miles for flights to space — here's how

A week at Richard Branson's private island

Of course, a trip to space isn't the only option for those swimming in Virgin points. You can also redeem 540,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points plus $5,400 for a four-night stay for two at Richard Branson's Necker Island .

Necker Island is a 74-acre private-island oasis north of Virgin Gorda and east of Puerto Rico , in the British Virgin Islands. The resort sleeps up to 40 people across 15 total rooms. Amenities include infinity pools, serene relaxation spaces, several bars, elegant dining spaces, lawn games, tennis courts, water sports and a hot tub directly on the beach.

Bookings are restricted to those who have Virgin Atlantic Silver or Gold status, though you may be able to status match to Virgin Atlantic from another airline or hotel program .

Related: Private-island resorts you can book with points

Check in to Etihad's A380 Apartments

The first airline to introduce a single aisle on the A380, Etihad offers first-class "Apartments" with an incredible amount of personal space, allowing you to walk around inside your private space. Each seat in an Apartment consists of a wide armchair and a separate couch that converts into a 6-foot, 10-inch bed.

Nine Apartments alternate between forward- and rear-facing, as well as between being closer to the window and closer to the aisle.

Rows 3 and 4 are ideal if you're traveling with someone, as a partition can be lowered to connect the seats. It doesn't form a true double bed like you can find on Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways, but with the doors closed, it's about as private as you can get in commercial aviation today. First-class passengers can freshen up by taking an onboard shower before landing.

Etihad flies the A380 between Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) and Heathrow Airport (LHR). The A380 will also return on the longer route to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) from April 22, 2024. You can book the Apartments using American Airlines AAdvantage miles for 62,500 miles on the shorter London route or 115,000 miles on the longer New York route.

In the front of the Etihad A380 first-class cabin, where you'd expect to see seats 1A and 1C, is the "Residence" — a three-room megasuite complete with a separate living room, bedroom and bathroom (with a shower, of course). While you cannot book the Residence with points and miles, you can upgrade with cash.

Standard one-way Residence upgrade prices on the New York route will be $4,520 per person.

Stay at the North Island resort in Seychelles

If you're sitting on a large stash of Marriott Bonvoy points , you can use them to stay at the incredible North Island, a Luxury Collection Resort in Seychelles.

You'll get to stay in a two-bedroom villa that covers nearly 5,000 square feet. Your stay will also include complimentary breakfast, use of an island buggy, morning yoga and kids activities.

Award nights cost more than 385,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night, and the hotel has a four-night minimum stay requirement. This rate also doesn't include the 814 euros ($889) you'd need to pay for a helicopter transfer each way. However, considering cash rates regularly cross $7,000 per night, this could be considered a great value — as long as you have a massive stash of Marriott points.

Related: 17 ways to earn lots of Marriott Bonvoy points

All-inclusive, private Calala Island resort

World of Hyatt members can redeem 35,000 to 45,000 points per night to stay at the uber-exclusive Calala Island resort , assuming you can find award availability.

Calala Island is an all-inclusive, private-island resort located off the coast of Nicaragua. It's so exclusive that it has just four beachfront suites and can only accommodate eight guests at a time.

Room rates regularly top $2,000 per night, so it's an absolute steal with points. Stays include food, drinks, activities and airport transfers.

Related: Here's how to quickly stock up on Hyatt points for your next vacation

Shower on board in Emirates first class

There aren't any ways to redeem points and miles for private jet travel , but Emirates first class is the next best thing.

Unfortunately, it's gotten more expensive to book these awards. Emirates stopped releasing first-class award space to most partner programs and subsequently made these redemptions more expensive through its own frequent flyer program . However, you can still book these awards through Emirates Skywards , Qantas Frequent Flyer or Air Canada Aeroplan .

If you want to experience gold-studded suites and onboard showers and bars , you'll want to fly on Emirates' flagship A380 aircraft. If modern sports car-inspired interiors are more your style, opt for Emirates' newer 777-300ER planes with the "Game Changer" fully enclosed suites . No matter what plane you end up on, you'll enjoy Emirates' same top-notch food and drinks (including caviar and Dom Perignon) and service.

Emirates generally charges lower redemption rates than Qantas or Air Canada, with first-class flights between John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Dubai International Airport (DXB) costing 136,500 miles each way. You can transfer points to Emirates from all six major transferable points programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Capital One, Marriott Bonvoy and Bilt Rewards.

Related: The best programs for booking Emirates awards

Air France's La Premiere first class

Another top-notch first-class product is Air France's La Premiere , available exclusively on some of the carrier's 777-300ERs. The cabin features just four seats across a single row, making it one of the smallest and most exclusive cabins in the sky.

La Premiere seats are elegant and private, featuring an individual lamp at every seat and floor-to-ceiling curtain dividers. The food is world-class, and the ground experience is unparalleled; passengers get chauffeured from an ultraluxe first-class lounge and the plane in a private car.

Unfortunately, this product is extremely hard to book with miles. To book La Premiere awards with miles, you must hold Air France-KLM Flying Blue Gold or Platinum elite status. Further, eligible elite members can only redeem at the "flex" level (not saver), so a one-way ticket between the U.S. and Europe will cost at least 220,000 miles.

If you're eligible to book these awards, you can transfer points to Flying Blue from Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, Citi ThankYou, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy and Bilt Rewards.

Related: Bucket list achieved: Reviewing Air France's incredibly hard-to-book La Premiere first class

Double beds in Singapore's first-class suites

If you're traveling with a significant other, you can't beat Singapore Airlines' A380 suites .

Each suite features an impressive 50 square feet and contains not just a reclinable armchair but an entirely separate bed. If you're traveling with someone, you can combine two suites to create a double bed and have up to 100 square feet of space.

Singapore doesn't release first-class award space to partner programs, but it does make it available through its own KrisFlyer frequent flyer program. Suites flights start at 86,000 miles between New York's JFK and Frankfurt Airport (FRA).

It's easy to get your hands on KrisFlyer miles since the program is a partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou and Capital One.

Related: How to book Singapore Airlines first-class Suites with points and miles

Luxurious Ritz-Carlton Reserve properties

You can earn and redeem Marriott Bonvoy points at Ritz-Carlton Reserve properties . Previously, the brand did not participate in the loyalty program.

Ritz-Carlton Reserve is one of Marriott's most exclusive brands, with just five properties worldwide in locations such as Japan and Thailand. It's a step above the standard Ritz-Carlton brand, emphasizing luxury, tranquility and sustainability. The properties are intimate, each composed of 50 to 115 rooms, and are in remote locations.

Award stays generally range from 80,000 to 240,000 points per night. Although steep, the cash rates at these hotels are often north of $800 per night. As with other Marriott Bonvoy award stays, you can get a fifth night free for every four consecutive nights you book with points.

Related: You can now earn and redeem Marriott Bonvoy points at Ritz-Carlton Reserve properties

Bottom line

You can redeem points and miles for some truly luxurious flights and hotel stays that would normally cost tens of thousands of dollars.

With a few large sign-up bonuses and being strategic with your spending, an extravagant first-class flight or trip to a private island could be within reach.

And who knows, you might just win the drawing for a trip to space.

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

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How much does a ticket to space on New Shepard cost? Blue Origin isn’t saying.

By Joey Roulette

• Oct. 13, 2021

Blue Origin has declined to publicly state a price for a ticket to fly on New Shepard. The company is nearing $100 million in sales so far, Mr. Bezos has said. But it’s unclear how many ticket holders that includes.

“We don’t know quite yet” when Blue Origin will publicly announce a price, Mr. Bezos told reporters in July after his flight to space. “Right now we’re doing really well with private sales.”

Oliver Daemen, the Dutch teenager aboard Blue Origin’s first crewed flight in July, was occupying a seat that the company auctioned off for $28 million, a steep number that even shocked some company executives. Of that total, $19 million was donated equally to 19 space organizations.

Mr. Daemen, 18, wasn’t the winning bidder. His father, a private equity executive, was the runner-up in the auction and was next in line after the actual winner. That individual, who has not been named, plunked down $28 million before postponing their trip over a scheduling conflict, Blue Origin said at the time.

Tickets to the edge of space on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo were hiked to $450,000 in August, from $250,000, when the company reopened ticket sales after a yearslong hiatus.

Flights to orbit — a much higher altitude than Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic’s trips go — are far more expensive. Three passengers to the International Space Station next year are paying $55 million each for their seats on a SpaceX rocket, bought through the company Axiom Space.

Many wealthy customers and space company executives see the steep ticket prices as early investments into the nascent space tourism industry, hoping the money they put down can help lower the cost of launching rockets.

What’s Up in Space and Astronomy

Keep track of things going on in our solar system and all around the universe..

Never miss an eclipse, a meteor shower, a rocket launch or any other 2024 event  that’s out of this world with  our space and astronomy calendar .

Scientists may have discovered a major flaw in their understanding of dark energy, a mysterious cosmic force . That could be good news for the fate of the universe.

A new set of computer simulations, which take into account the effects of stars moving past our solar system, has effectively made it harder to predict Earth’s future and reconstruct its past.

Dante Lauretta, the planetary scientist who led the OSIRIS-REx mission to retrieve a handful of space dust , discusses his next final frontier.

A nova named T Coronae Borealis lit up the night about 80 years ago. Astronomers say it’s expected to put on another show  in the coming months.

Is Pluto a planet? And what is a planet, anyway? Test your knowledge here .

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The family home where Captain Sir Tom Moore walked 100 laps to raise nearly £40m for the NHS during the first COVID lockdown is up for sale for £2.25m.

The Grade II-listed Old Rectory is described as a "magnificent seven-bedroom property" by estate agents Fine & Country.

In a video tour of the house, a sculpture of Captain Tom with his walking frame can be seen in the hallway, while a photo of the fundraising hero being knighted by the Queen is on a wall in the separate coach house building.

Introducing the property, an estate agent says in the tour video: "I'm sure you'll recognise this iconic and very famous driveway behind me as it was home to the late Captain Sir Tom Moore who walked 100 laps of his garden, raising over £37m for NHS charities."

It comes less than three months after the demolition of an unauthorised spa pool block in the grounds of the property in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire.

Speaking at an appeal hearing over that spa, Scott Stemp, representing Captain Tom's daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband, said the foundation named after the fundraising hero "is to be closed down" following a Charity Commission probe launched amid concerns about its management.

For the full story, click here ...

"Status symbol" pets are being given up by owners who get scared as they grow up, an animal charity has said, with the cost of living possibly paying a part in a rise in separations.

The Exotic Pet Refuge, which homes parrots, monkeys, snakes and alligators among others, says it receives referrals across the country, including from zoos and the RSPCA.

"They're a status symbol. People will say, 'OK, I'll have an alligator or a 10ft boa constrictor'," co-owner Pam Mansfield told the BBC.

"But when the animal gets big, they will get too frightened to handle them, and then the pet has to go."

She added people who want to get rid of the pets sometimes call zoos for help, which then call on her charity.

In some cases, owners don't have licences to own dangerous animals, she says, blaming a "lack of understanding" for what she says is a rise in the number of exotic animals needing to be rehomed.

She says people "just don't have the space" for some snakes, for example, with some growing to as much as 12ft and needing their own room.

The cost of living crisis has also forced owners to give their pets away, she says.

Her charity has also been affected by those increased costs, with the electricity bill rising to £10,000 a month at their highest, to fund things like heated pools for alligators.

Private car parks are accused of "confusing drivers" after introducing a new code of conduct - despite "doing all they can" to prevent an official government version.

The code of practice launched by two industry bodies - British Parking Association and the International Parking Community - includes a ten-minute grace period for motorists to leave a car park after the parking period they paid for ends.

It also features requirements for consistent signage, a single set of rules for operators on private land and an "appeals charter".

Private parking businesses have been accused of using misleading and confusing signs, aggressive debt collection and unreasonable fees.

That comes after a government-backed code of conduct was withdrawn in June 2022, after a legal challenges by parking companies.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: "We're flabbergasted that the BPA and the IPC have suddenly announced plans to introduce their own private parking code after doing all they can over the last five years to prevent the official government code created by an act of Parliament coming into force.

"While there are clearly some positive elements to what the private parking industry is proposing, it conveniently avoids some of the biggest issues around caps on penalty charges and debt recovery fees which badly need to be addressed to prevent drivers being taken advantage of."

BPA chief executive Andrew Pester said: "This is a crucial milestone as we work closely with government, consumer bodies and others to deliver fairer and more consistent parking standards for motorists."

IPC chief executive Will Hurley said: "The single code will benefit all compliant motorists and will present clear consequences for those who decide to break the rules."

Sky News has learnt the owner of Superdry's flagship store is weighing up a legal challenge to a rescue plan launched by the struggling fashion retailer.

M&G, the London-listed asset manager, has engaged lawyers from Hogan Lovells to scrutinise the restructuring plan.

The move by M&G, which owns the fashion retailer's 32,000 square foot Oxford Street store, will not necessarily result in a formal legal challenge - but sources say it's possible.

Read City editor Mark Kleinman 's story here...

NatWest says its mortgage lending nearly halved at the start of the year as it retreated from parts of the market when competition among lenders stepped up.

New mortgage lending totalled £5.2bn in the first three months of 2024, the banking group has revealed, down from £9.9bn the previous year.

The group, which includes Royal Bank of Scotland and Coutts, also reported an operating pre-tax profit of £1.3bn for the first quarter, down 27% from £1.8bn the previous year.

An unexplained flow of British luxury cars into states neighbouring Russia continued into February, new data shows.

About £26m worth of British cars were exported to Azerbaijan, making the former Soviet country the 17th biggest destination for UK cars - bigger than long-established export markets such as Ireland, Portugal and Qatar.

Azerbaijan's ascent has coincided almost to the month with the imposition of sanctions on the export of cars to Russia.

Read the rest of economics and data editor Ed Conway 's analysis here...

Rishi Sunak has hailed the arrival of pay day with a reminder his government's additional National Insurance tax cut kicks in this month for the first time.

At last month's budget, the chancellor announced NI will be cut by a further 2p - so some workers will pay 8% of their earnings instead of the 12% if was before autumn.

The prime minister has repeated his claim this will be worth £900 for someone on the average UK salary.

While this additional cut - on top of the previous 2p cut in January - does equate to £900 for those on average full-time earnings of £35,000, there are two key issues with Mr Sunak's claim:

• Once the effect of all income tax changes since 2021 are taken into account, the Institute for Fiscal Studies reports an average earner will benefit from a tax cut of £340 - far less than £900;
• Moreover, anyone earning less than £26,000 or between £55,000-£131,000 will ultimately be worse off.

In short, this is because NI cuts are more than offset by other tax rises.

We explain below how this is the case...

Tax thresholds

This is partly down to tax thresholds - the amount you are allowed to earn before you start paying tax (and national insurance) and before you start paying the higher rate of tax - will remain frozen. 

This means people end up paying more tax than they otherwise would, when their pay rises with inflation but the thresholds don't keep up. 

This phenomenon is known as "fiscal drag" and it's often called a stealth tax because it's not as noticeable immediately in your pay packet.

That low threshold of £12,570 has been in place since April 2021. 

The Office for Budget Responsibility says if it had increased with inflation it would be set at £15,220 for 2024/25.

If that were the case, workers could earn an extra £2,650 tax-free each year.

Less give, more take

Sky News analysis shows someone on £16,000 a year will pay £607 more in total - equivalent to more than three months of average household spending on food. 

Their income level means national insurance savings are limited but they are paying 20% in income tax on an additional £2,650 of earnings.

In its analysis , the IFS states: "In aggregate the NICs cuts just serve to give back a portion of the money that is being taken away through other income tax and NICs changes - in particular, multi-year freezes to tax thresholds at a time of high inflation."

Overall, according to the institute, for every £1 given back to workers by the National Insurance cuts, £1.30 will have been taken away due to threshold changes between 2021 and 2024.

This rises to £1.90 in 2027.

The UK could face a shortage of cava due to a drought in the sparkling wine's Spanish heartlands.

The Penedes area of Catalonia is dealing with its worst drought on record, with vineyards across the region so parched the roots of 30-year-old vines have died.

It's left shrivelled red and green grapes languishing under intense sun, fuelled by fossil-fuel driven climate change.

Cava is an increasingly popular drink in the UK, with 17.8 million bottles sold in 2023 - an increase of 5% from the previous year, when Britons stocked up on 16.8 million bottles, according to the Cava Regulatory Board.

That makes the UK the fourth-biggest buyer, behind only the US, Belgium and Germany.

Workforce slashed

The problems have been compounded after Catalonia-based cava producer Freixenet announced it will temporarily lay off 615 workers, almost 80% of its workforce.

Under Spanish law, companies facing exceptional circumstances can lay off staff or reduce working hours.

This measure is expected to take effect from May and it is not known how long it will last.

Price rises

One industry source told retail publication The Grocer  that cava shortages would push up prices "certainly for next year" if there isn't enough supply.

This could last for years if the drought persists, they added.

Consumer expert Helen Dewdney told MailOnline the staff cuts at Freixenet can only mean one thing - price rises.

However, she added, supermarkets say they are not experiencing any issues right now.

Parents are being hammered by rising childcare costs, according to a new study that suggests they may spend more than £160,000 raising their child to the age of 18.

Research by Hargreaves Lansdown has found that parents with children pay £6,969 a year more than couples without.

Over 18 years and assuming an annual inflation rate of 3%, that amounts to a whopping £163,175, the investment platform said.

Its study also found that parents were less likely to have money left at the end of the month.

Single parents carry the biggest burden, with the research suggesting they have just £85 left on average compared to £365 for couples with children.

Hargreaves Lansdown also found just 23% of single parents reported having enough emergency savings to cover at least three months' worth of essential expenses, compared to 63% of couples with children.

Parents are also at a slight disadvantage when it comes to pensions, the research found, with only 43% of couples with children on track for a moderate retirement income, compared to 47% without. Only 17% of single parents have a decent projected pension fund.

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at the firm, said "having children is one of the most expensive decisions a person can make".

She adds that as a result of having a child, "financial resilience suffers across the board", and added: "For single parents, life is even tougher, and they face far lower resilience on almost every measure.

"It means we need all the help we can get."

By Daniel Binns, business reporter

One of the top stories shaking up the markets this morning is that UK-based mining company Anglo American has rejected a major $38.8bn (£31bn) takeover bid.

Details of the attempted buyout by Australian rival BHP emerged yesterday  - sending Anglo American shares soaring.

The deal would have created the world's biggest copper mining company - with the news coming as the price of the metal hit record highs this week.

However, Anglo American has now dismissed the proposal as "opportunistic" and said BHP had undervalued the company.

Anglo's shares are slightly down by 0.8% this morning - suggesting investors may not have given up hopes that a deal could eventually be agreed.

However, overall the FTSE 100 is up around 0.4% this morning, buoyed by strong reported earnings from US tech giants Microsoft and Google owner Alphabet.

It's helped the index, of the London Stock Exchange's 100 most valuable companies, hit yet another intraday (during the day) record of 8,136 points this morning.

The winning streak comes after a week of all-time highs on the index - including a record close of 8,078 points yesterday. The score is based on a calculation of the total value of the shares on the index.

Among the companies doing well this morning is NatWest - despite the bank reporting a fall in pre-tax profits of nearly 28% for the first quarter of the year.

Shares in the lender are up more than 3% after its results were better than expected by analysts.

On the currency markets, £1 buys $1.25 US or €1.16, almost on a par with yesterday.

Meanwhile, the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil has crept up slightly to $89 (£71).

Self-checkouts - they're like marmite, people seem to either love them or hate them.

But the boss of Sainsbury's has claimed that his customers do  enjoy using self-checkouts, despite criticism that that machines don't always provide the convenience promised.

Simon Roberts told The Telegraph that there are more of them in Sainsbury's stores "than a number of years ago" as shoppers like the "speedy checkout".

But despite this, he said there won't be a time when they'll replace cashiers completely.

"Over the last year, where we've put more self-checkouts in, we're always making sure that the traditional kind of belted checkout is there," he said.

His comments come after northern supermarket Booths ditched self-checkouts at all but two of its sites after customer feedback. 

Walmart and Costco in the US have also scaled back on the systems.

Let us know in the comments - do you love or hate self-checkouts?

We've all heard consumer advice that's repeated so often it almost becomes cliché. So, every Friday the Money team will get to the bottom of a different "fact" and decide whether it's a myth or must.

This week it is...

'Smart meters save you money'

For this one, we've enlisted the help of Dr Steve Buckley, also known as the Energy Doctor and head of data science at Loop...

So do smart meters help you save? 

"The short answer is both yes and no," Steve says.

"Installing a smart meter by itself won't magically reduce your energy consumption. But, by giving you easy access to your energy usage data, smart meters pave the way for savings that you couldn't achieve otherwise."

Before smart meters, most households only found out how much energy they had used when the bill arrived. 

By that stage it's too late to address wasteful usage, leading to what's known as "bill shock". 

"With a smart meter, you can see your usage and costs in real-time through an in-home display or an app provided by your supplier," Steve says. 

"This immediate feedback encourages you to use less energy. If you measure it, you can control it."

In 2022, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero found that homes with smart meters used about 3.4% less electricity and 3% less gas. 

"This might not seem like a lot, but it adds up to a saving of over £50 per household annually," Steve says.  

If all homes in the UK made similar cuts, that would amount to savings of around £1.5bn and a potential reduction in CO2 emissions by about 2.7m tonnes each year. 

"Good for individual households but also great for the planet," Steve says. 

Smart meters are often installed at no extra cost to the consumer - it's effectively free data for households. 

Limitations

Smart meters are more or less what you make of them - a simple, free tool that allows you to see headline figures. 

However, "without detailed analysis, it's tough to identify and eliminate" where you could be wasting money, Steve says. 

Apps like Utrack, Loop and Hugo Energy can help you work out where you might be losing money by offering a more detailed breakdown if connected to your smart meter. 

Those tools are often free, but you may need to register your card details as proof of address. 

The tools give a number of useful insights, including looking at consumption in other households of similar size or monitoring where chunks of your money are going, such as to a faulty boiler or the "phantom load" (energy wasted by devices left on unnecessarily).

Myth or must?

Although smart meters alone don't reduce energy bills, they are a vital tool to help energy efficiency and cost savings. 

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Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru and Aditi Shah in New Delhi, additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Sohini Goswami, Savio D'Souza and Tomasz Janowski

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U.S. chip bans not meant to hobble China's growth, Blinken says

U.S. export controls on sending advanced computing chips to China are not meant to hold back China's economy or technological development, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during an interview with National Public Radio on Friday.