space tourism projects

The Private Companies Pioneering the (New) Space Race

It’s a brave new world for space travel..

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Three companies—Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and SpaceX—are blazing their own separate paths into space tourism.

Courtesy of Blue Origin

Space travel is all extremes. The prices are high—the cheapest trips cost as much as the average home in the United States—and the minutes spent floating weightlessly, gaping at Earth’s thin blue line, can be few. But more and more people are venturing into space, and the business is booming.

Three space barons— Jeff Bezos , Richard Branson , and Elon Musk —are at the fore of the space travel industry. So far, their passengers represent a narrow slice of humanity: celebrities like Star Trek ’s William Shatner or uber-rich businesspeople like Jared Isaacman , who made his fortune on a payment-processing firm he started as a teenager. The days of sipping electric-blue cocktails on sleek space stations aren’t here for the masses just yet, but for those with the dream (and cash) for a jaunt to the nearest reaches of space, look to these companies.

Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 with the intention of making space travel cheaper, more accessible, and frequent.

Blue Origin

Prep: Two days of training include touring the New Shepard rocket, experiencing launch simulations, and learning to conduct oneself in zero gravity (no re-enacting scenes from The Matrix ).

Price: Bezos has kept the cost for rides under wraps. In an auction for its first crewed flight in July 2021, the winning bid was $28 million for a single rider.

Founded in 2000 by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin launches travelers on 11-minute excursions. Previous passengers include William Shatner, who was profoundly moved by the experience and marveled at the tenuous boundary between Earth and space. “This air which is keeping us alive is thinner than your skin,” he told Bezos. “It would be so important for everybody to have that experience.”

The reusable New Shepard rocket takes travelers 62 miles above Earth. That’s just above the Kármán line—a theoretical boundary considered the start of space by the leading international aeronautical organization, the Féderátion Aéronautique Internationale , since the atmosphere there is too thin to support airplanes.

At the peak of the flight, passengers enjoy a few minutes of floating weightlessly while peering out their own windows (nearly 43 by 29 inches, the biggest on the market) before the capsule glides back down to the desert.

Virgin Galactic is considered to be one of the front runners in the space race after it flew one of its space planes in the outer atmosphere in 2018.

Photo by Mark Greenberg/Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic

Prep: A year of preparation culminates in several days of bonding and collaborating as a passenger team “to create a group that is fully equipped to enjoy themselves during spaceflight.” Passengers are also fitted for bespoke Under Armour space suits and boots.

Price: $450,000

British entrepreneur Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic offers an experience on its SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane, which can function in Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. As with any flight, the journey starts on a runway. The spaceplane piggybacks on another plane to 50,000 feet before the rocket ignites and the craft ascends.

The 90-minute flight peaks at 53 miles: well below the Kármán line, but past the 50-mile-mark that NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration consider the start of space. (Initially, the SpaceShipTwo was intended to fly above the 62-mile-mark, but trouble with the motor design resulted in a model that isn’t powerful enough to go that high.) Passengers enjoy four weightless minutes before re-entering the lower atmosphere and gliding back down the runway.

Virgin Galactic highlights the “ overview effect ” as a perk of its cosmic services: the cognitive transformation often sparked by viewing Earth against the void of space. Many astronauts report intense emotion as the unique perspective reveals the fragility and connectedness of life on Earth. In 2019, Beth Moses , Virgin Galactic’s Chief Astronaut Officer, became the first woman to fly to space on a commercial vehicle. In July 2021, she made a second trip aboard the same vessel.

In 2021, SpaceX flew the space tourism industry’s first all-civilian crew into space.

Courtesy of SpaceX

Prep: To prepare for a three-day trip in orbit, one crew underwent six months of centrifuge spins and fighter jet flights, launch and re-entry rehearsals, and even climbed snowy Mount Rainier for team bonding.

Price: A reported $55 million

Led by tech magnate Elon Musk, SpaceX boasts the only tours into orbit. And they are much more exclusive. As of July 2022, only eight civilians—lucky individuals, wealthy businesspeople, and a retired astronaut among them—have orbited Earth with SpaceX, circling the planet every 90 minutes. For these tours, the company uses the same rocket, Falcon 9 , and gumdrop-shaped spacecraft, the Dragon , to shuttle NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Astronauts have said SpaceX’s ride brings longer, rougher g-forces, with the rocket thrusting about 4.5 times Earth’s gravity onto passengers.

The company has sent civilians on a three-day spin around Earth, while a handful of business executives had a two-week stay on the International Space Station (the latter trip was chartered by the company Axiom Space). In 2023, SpaceX will send Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on a trip around the moon.

On their orbiting stint in the 13-foot-wide Dragon , 357 miles above Earth, a four-person crew shared a toilet, took no showers, and slept buckled into the same seats they rode during launch. They ate cold meals of pizza, sandwiches, and bolognese. On the ISS trip, three civilians and their captain—a former astronaut—ate NASA’s freeze-dried meals. During their stay, which was extended due to bad weather for landing, the crew performed a variety of science experiments, like a regenerative medicine study for the Mayo Clinic on cardiac cells. Both journeys ended with a splash into the Atlantic Ocean.

You Won’t Hear Much About the Next Chapter of Space Travel

Space tourism is getting less transparent, and more like traveling by private jet.

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Of all the high-flying tourism ventures spawned by space-obsessed billionaires, Virgin Galactic, founded by Richard Branson, offers perhaps the most unconventional approach. It doesn’t use big rockets or gumdrop-shaped capsules. Instead, an airplane takes off with a spacecraft strapped to its wing. The spacecraft, shaped like a plane itself, holds the paying customers and more pilots. When the airplane reaches a certain altitude, it releases the spacecraft. The spacecraft’s pilots then ignite its engine, and the vehicle soars straight up, to the fuzzy boundary that separates us from the rest of the universe, before gliding back down and landing on a runway.

The spaceplane experience is a stark contrast to Blue Origin’s suborbital jaunts and SpaceX’s orbital missions, but Virgin Galactic’s passengers still have a few surreal minutes of weightlessness, and they get to see the planet gleaming against the darkness of space. Those passengers have included the first former Olympian to reach space, as well as the first mother-daughter duo and, most recently, the first Pakistani .

In the midst of all that, Virgin Galactic clocked a first that raised some eyebrows: The company withheld the passenger list from the public before a takeoff last month, divulging the travelers’ names only after they had landed. The company never publicly explained its preflight secrecy. (Virgin Galactic did not respond to a request for comment.) Yesterday, Virgin Galactic announced its next flight, scheduled for November; the company kept one of the three listed passengers anonymous, saying only that the person is “of Franco-Italian nationality.”

Virgin is of course within its rights to withhold passenger names before takeoff. After all, airlines and railroads keep private the names of their customers. But Virgin Galactic’s choice to do so marks a subtle shift—the latest in U.S. spaceflight’s arc from a publicly funded national mission to private tourism. NASA, as a taxpayer-funded organization, has always had to provide the public with launch lists and livestreams. But the age of space tourism raises a host of questions: How much openness do space-tourism companies owe the public? How much privacy do they owe their customers? Before the Virgin flight returned home last month, it operated almost like a privately chartered plane, its movements known to relevant aviation agencies but its passengers’ names undisclosed to the public. Commercial spaceflight and air travel are still far from alike, but in this particular aspect, the space-tourism industry may be drifting toward its private-jet era.

Read: The new ‘right stuff’ is money and luck

In practice, the space-tourism industry is barely more than two years old, and it’s “still finding its norms,” says Carissa Christensen, a space consultant and the CEO of BryceTech, an analytics and engineering firm. The first passenger rosters were marquee news in 2021, when Branson and Jeff Bezos were racing to be the first to ride their own spacecraft , and Elon Musk’s SpaceX was working to send a quartet of private astronauts with zero spaceflight experience into orbit.

All three of their companies publicized, and even hyped, the passenger lists, in some cases months in advance. Wally Funk, an octogenarian aviator who had outperformed male candidates in astronaut tests during the 1960s but was kept out of the astronaut corps because she was a woman, flew alongside Bezos . Jared Isaacman, a billionaire businessman, paid for three other people to fly into orbit with him on SpaceX; all of them gave countless interviews before launch. And who can forget the hype ahead of William Shatner’s flight, and the Star Trek star’s unfiltered, emotional remarks after landing?

The rosters became less noteworthy as time went on: The customers were no longer memorable guests who got free rides, but simply very wealthy people who could afford the trips on their own. Last month’s temporarily secret Virgin Galactic fliers included a real-estate investor from Las Vegas, a South African entrepreneur, and a British engineer who founded a company that builds race cars. Michelle Hanlon, a space lawyer and the executive director of the University of Mississippi’s Center for Air and Space Law, told me that she was mildly surprised by Virgin Galactic’s decision to withhold the passengers’ identities before takeoff, but that the decision did not strike her as inappropriate.

“From a paparazzi standpoint, if it’s Ashton Kutcher, the world’s gonna care a little bit more than if it’s Michelle Hanlon,” Hanlon said. (Kutcher did, in fact, purchase a Virgin Galactic ticket in 2012, but he later sold it back to the company after his wife and fellow actor, Mila Kunis, talked him out of going.) And from a legal standpoint, nothing inappropriate occurred, Hanlon said; there are no existing requirements for a private company to disclose passenger names. Space travelers must sign waivers from the Federal Aviation Administration outlining the risks associated with the activity, she said, but the companies they’re flying with are not required to provide the agency with a passenger list.

Read: Jeff Bezos knows who paid for him to go to space

Passenger names aren’t the only details of commercial spaceflight that are becoming more opaque. When SpaceX launched its first set of private astronauts, the company shared significantly less live footage of their experience in orbit than they did when NASA astronauts test-drove the capsule a year earlier. During its last two flights, Virgin Galactic decided not to provide a livestream, giving updates on social media instead.

Because there are no regulations, it’s difficult to say when the companies’ right to privacy becomes a concerning level of secrecy. NASA overshares when it comes to its astronauts and their mission, because the public—which funds the agency—expects it. Americans might also expect a good look at SpaceX customers who visit the International Space Station, which relies on billions of dollars of taxpayer money, and where private visitors share meals with government astronauts. But what about other kinds of SpaceX missions, which go into orbit without disembarking at any government-owned facility? The company developed its crewed launch services with significant investment from NASA, so virtually every SpaceX trip indirectly involves government money. That doesn’t necessarily mean SpaceX is obligated to share as the space agency does, even if people on the ground feel that it should.

Another major difference between NASA missions and private ones, of course, is that astronauts are at work, whereas many space tourists are presumably just having fun. Caryn Schenewerk, a consultant who specializes in commercial spaceflight at her firm CS Consulting, told me that she thinks commercial spaceflight will adopt the practices of other forms of adventure tourism. Take skydiving, for example: Schenewerk said that she has signed paperwork granting the skydiving company permission to use footage of her experience for its own purposes. “There’s some expectation of privacy on the individual’s behalf that then has to be actively waived for the company’s benefit,” she said.

The once-anonymous Virgin Galactic passengers on the September flight have since publicly shared their stories , basking in the awe of their experience. Christensen told me that most future tourists will likely do the same. “A big part of the fun is other people knowing that you’ve done it,” she said. Flying to space isn’t exactly something to be modest about: Fewer than 700 people have done it since human beings first achieved the feat, in the early 1960s, and we know all of their names. If Virgin’s new mystery passenger doesn’t reveal their name, they really will make history.

Read: Seeing Earth from space will change you

Many spacefarers—the Soviet cosmonauts who inhabited the first space station, the American astronauts who shuttled their way into orbit, the Chinese astronauts living in space right now, all of the people who have flown commercial—have spoken about the transformational wonder of seeing Earth from space, a phenomenon known as the overview effect . They reported that they better understood the reality of our beautiful, fragile planet, and that they felt a duty to share their impressions with people on the ground. Gene Cernan, one of the dozen men who walked on the lunar surface, once said, “If only everyone could relate to the beauty and the purposefulness of it … It wouldn’t bring a utopia to this planet for people to understand it all, but it might make a difference.” In this sense, for a space traveler to remain unknown forever would be a sort of anti–overview effect: Just as they may have the right to request some privacy, they have no obligation to bring the transcendent power of their journey back to Earth.

Three years ago, two NASA astronauts made a historic flight on a new SpaceX astronaut capsule. Ahead of the mission, I asked NASA what Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken were going to have for breakfast on the morning of the launch. It was a question with a long tradition in spacefaring history: During the Apollo days, the public was privy to the final Earth-bound meals of history-making astronauts. NASA officials balked, saying they couldn’t divulge that information for privacy reasons. But on the day of the launch, Hurley, as if to sate the space press corps, posted a picture of his steak and eggs on Twitter (as it was still known then).

Hurley and Behnken’s preflight hours seemed like fair game; after all, these men were government employees, doing their job on their assigned mission. But future passengers may decide that we have no business knowing their breakfast order—or even their name.

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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."

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

Space tourism – 20 years in the making – is finally ready for launch

Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, Air University

Disclosure statement

Wendy Whitman Cobb is affiliated with the US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. Her views are her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Defense or any of its affiliates.

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For most people, getting to the stars is nothing more than a dream. On April 28, 2001, Dennis Tito achieved that lifelong goal – but he wasn’t a typical astronaut. Tito, a wealthy businessman, paid US$20 million for a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to be the first tourist to visit the International Space Station. Only seven people have followed suit in the 20 years since, but that number is poised to double in the next 12 months alone.

NASA has long been hesitant to play host to space tourists , so Russia – looking for sources of money post-Cold War in the 1990s and 2000s – has been the only option available for those looking for this kind of extreme adventure. However, it seems the rise of private space companies is going to make it easier for regular people to experience space.

From my perspective as a space policy analyst , I see the beginning of an era in which more people can experience space. With companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin hoping to build a future for humanity in space, space tourism is a way to demonstrate both the safety and reliability of space travel to the general public.

The development of space tourism

Flights to space like Dennis Tito’s are expensive for a reason. A rocket must burn a lot of costly fuel to travel high and fast enough to enter Earth’s orbit.

Another cheaper possibility is a suborbital launch, with the rocket going high enough to reach the edge of space and coming right back down. While passengers on a suborbital trip experience weightlessness and incredible views, these launches are more accessible.

The difficulty and expense of either option has meant that, traditionally, only nation-states have been able to explore space. This began to change in the 1990s as a series of entrepreneurs entered the space arena. Three companies led by billionaire CEOs have emerged as the major players: Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and SpaceX. Though none have taken paying, private customers to space, all anticipate doing so in the very near future.

British billionaire Richard Branson has built his brand on not just business but also his love of adventure. In pursuing space tourism, Branson has brought both of those to bear. He established Virgin Galactic after buying SpaceShipOne - a company that won the Ansari X-Prize by building the first reusable spaceship. Since then, Virgin Galactic has sought to design, build and fly a larger SpaceShipTwo that can carry up to six passengers in a suborbital flight.

The going has been harder than anticipated. While Branson predicted opening the business to tourists in 2009, Virgin Galactic has encountered some significant hurdles – including the death of a pilot in a crash in 2014 . After the crash, engineers found significant problems with the design of the vehicle, which required modifications.

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, respective leaders of SpaceX and Blue Origin, began their own ventures in the early 2000s.

Musk, fearing that a catastrophe of some sort could leave Earth uninhabitable, was frustrated at the lack of progress in making humanity a multiplanetary species. He founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of first developing reusable launch technology to decrease the cost of getting to space. Since then, SpaceX has found success with its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX’s ultimate goal is human settlement of Mars – sending paying customers to space is an intermediate step. Musk says he hopes to show that space travel can be done easily and that tourism might provide a revenue stream to support development of the larger, Mars-focused Starship system.

Bezos, inspired by the vision of physicist Gerard O’Neill , wants to expand humanity and industry not to Mars, but to space itself. Blue Origin , established in 2004, has proceeded slowly and quietly in also developing reusable rockets. Its New Shepard rocket, first successfully flown in 2015, will eventually offer tourists a suborbital trip to the edge of space, similar to Virgin Galactic’s. For Bezos, these launches represent an effort at making space travel routine, reliable and accessible to people as a first step to enabling further space exploration.

Outlook for the future

Now, SpaceX is the only option for someone looking to go into space and orbit the Earth. It currently has two tourist launches planned. The first is scheduled for as early as September 2021 , funded by billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman. The other trip, planned for 2022, is being organized by Axiom Space . These trips will be costly , at $55 million for the flight and a stay on the International Space Station. The high cost has led some to warn that space tourism – and private access to space more broadly – might reinforce inequality between rich and poor.

Blue Origin’s and Virgin Galactic’s suborbital trips are far more reasonable in cost, with both priced between $200,000 and $250,000 . Blue Origin appears to be the nearest to allowing paying customers on board, saying after a recent launch that crewed missions would be happening “soon.” Virgin Galactic continues to test SpaceShipTwo, but no specific timetable has been announced for tourist flights.

Though these prices are high, it is worth considering that Dennis Tito’s $20 million ticket in 2001 could pay for 100 flights on Blue Origin soon. The experience of viewing the Earth from space, though, may prove to be priceless for a whole new generation of space explorers.

[ Over 104,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world. Sign up today .]

An updated version of this article was published on May 7, 2021. Read it here .

• Space tourism
• International Space Station (ISS)
• Virgin Galactic
• Space industry
• Blue Origin
• Private spaceflight

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On Tech: A.I.

Space tourism isn’t just joyriding.

Having rich guys like Jeff Bezos in orbit can make space travel routine and help all of us dream big.

By Shira Ovide

Maybe you’ve wondered as I have: Is there a point to rocketing rich guys like Jeff Bezos and the “Star Trek” actor William Shatner into space?

Wendy Whitman Cobb, an Air Force political scientist for space, says yes. Our conversation challenged my thinking about space projects, like those from Bezos and Elon Musk, that imagine a future away from Earth.

If you screamed “ MIDLIFE CRISIS ” when Bezos touched space last year or asked why Musk’s SpaceX company has attracted so much attention , today’s newsletter is for you.

Whitman Cobb, who has a Ph.D. in political science, said that tourist jaunts were a first step to transform space travel from outlandish to routine. And she believes that amateurs in orbit are a proving ground for worthy ambitions — including settling Mars, as Musk imagines , or colonizing space to support more people and industry than is possible on Earth, as Bezos aspires to .

To me, those sound like the escapist fantasies of billionaires. But Whitman Cobb’s optimism is a useful counterpoint to this newsletter’s regular warnings that technology is not a magical fix to our problems . Whitman Cobb agrees, but also said that technology had sometimes done magical things in space exploration.

To rewind the past decade, corporations such as SpaceX, Bezos’ Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and the New Zealand-based start-up Rocket Lab have tried to become bigger players in spaceflight . Companies have always worked with governments on space travel, but now they’re more involved in carrying astronauts, enthusiasts, satellites and cargo to space.

There is debate about the appropriate role of governments versus corporations in space, but Whitman Cobb believes those companies have made rote space tasks cheaper and easier. That frees up NASA to dream big on projects such as pursuing moon colonies and exploring deep space.

SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have also led space pleasure cruises. Those are joyrides for a tiny few, but Whitman Cobb said that they helped hone the safety of space travel and generated enthusiasm for searching beyond our planet.

“The more ‘normal’ people we see fly into space, more of the public will see this as possible and be excited by it,” she told me. “That public opinion is key to a lot of things that these companies as well as the U.S. government is doing in space.”

(Whitman Cobb said that these views were hers, and not that of the U.S. government, which employs her. She also said that she didn’t receive funding from commercial space companies.)

The ultimate goal, though, goes far beyond tourism. Musk and Bezos imagine moving people or polluting industries into space or creating a Mars civilization. I worry that is a pretext to ignore problems on Earth.

Whitman Cobb understood why I asked if those were reckless delusions, but she also doesn’t want us to lose sight of the potential benefits from dreaming. The history of space exploration, she said, is of kooky and not necessarily high-minded visions becoming doable and helpful.

The U.S. missions to the moon in the 1960s were driven by a desire to prove American superiority over the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, nationalist space missions helped spur the development of ever-smaller electronics that we use every day, improved health technology and even gave us memory foam . The past decade’s boom in commercial spaceflight has lowered the cost of space access and enabled novel ideas like small-scale satellites to map the Earth from above it.

Whitman Cobb said that the advanced technology that commercial space companies developed for spaceflight could likewise trickle down to other areas that help us.

A self-described space geek, she also said that the awe of space was a worthy goal. “It also scratches an itch, so to speak, of humanity’s longing to explore, to discover, and to understand the world around us,” she said.

I asked Whitman Cobb if she would want to live on Mars. “Absolutely,” she replied. “Maybe not forever.”

I’m not shedding all my doubts about rocket tourism or billionaires’ space fantasies. When corporations play a large role in space, they could hoard inventions rather than have them benefit the public. Space tourism also hurts the environment , and it’s not clear how much space travel and commerce is worthwhile. We know that technologies, even the helpful ones, have downsides.

Whitman Cobb wants us to have that skepticism alongside excitement. The history of space travel, she said, shows that selfish dreams can benefit all of us.

Before we go …

More Earthbound Musk news: He has gotten into hot water for his tweets. Recently, Musk also bought a big chunk of Twitter’s stock. No one quite knows what he’s doing , my colleagues Mike Isaac and Lauren Hirsch report. On Tuesday, Twitter said that Musk would join the company’s board of directors .

What does an altruist do with a cryptocurrency fortune? Sam Bankman-Fried, a co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is one of the world’s richest people and a believer in using scientific reasoning to do the most good. Bloomberg News tells us about the 30-year-old Bankman-Fried and asks: “Should someone who wants to save the world first amass as much money and power as possible, or will the pursuit corrupt him along the way?” (A subscription may be required.)

Related: Ezra Klein, my colleague in Times Opinion, interviewed Dan Olson, a video essayist who warns about the dangers of crypto ideology and culture.

How to recycle your gadgets properly: It’s not unusual for the batteries in electronics to start fires in landfills and recycling centers. The Washington Post explains how to dispose of your gadgets and batteries safely . (A subscription may be required.)

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Enjoy breakfast with these piglets, Pickle, Winnie and Domino .

We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else you’d like us to explore. You can reach us at [email protected].

If you don’t already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here . You can also read past On Tech columns .

Shira Ovide writes the On Tech newsletter, a guide to how technology is reshaping our lives and world. More about Shira Ovide

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8 Space Travel Projects That Will Become a Reality in Our Lifetime

I n 2017, NASA and the European Space Agency reaffirmed their determination to focus once again on human space exploration. Astronauts will go back to the Moon and fly off to Mars, but they’re not the only ones planning on rocketing off to outer space. Private space companies, such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, want to make all of us tag along for the ride as space tourists. Here are eight space travel projects that will become a reality in our lifetime and get us that much closer to turning space into one of our many travel destinations.

1. Take a trip to the International Space Station.

Photo: Bigelow Aerospace /Facebook

Seven fortunate private explorers have already slept aboard the International Space Station. These first-ever space tourists had private company Space Adventures arrange their flights to the International Space Station on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft for them to live and work alongside professional astronauts for 10 days. However, since 2009, no new space tourists have set foot on the ISS. But this is likely to change soon.

Bigelow Aerospace plans on turning part of the ISS into a destination hotel by developing the B330 spacecraft. The B330 project consists of attaching an inflatable commercial space station to the ISS, and was initially slated to become a reality in 2024, though the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed that date. The overall Bigelow Aerospace’s vision is to become the main stand-alone habitation system for low Earth orbit and deep space.

But Bigelow Aerospace is not the only one with their eyes set on the ISS. The Russian space agency (ROSCOSMOS) is developing a five-star luxury orbital module . This luxury orbital suite would be attached to the ISS and be used solely for space tourism. Six tourists a year could benefit from its mesmerizing view, Wi-Fi, and gym amenities.

Making the ISS a tourist destination is not cheap. Only those with a $40 million travel budget will be able to spend a week in these ISS hotel rooms.

2. Hop in an “affordable” 10-minute flight into low Earth orbit.

Photo: Virgin Galatic /Facebook

Traveling to low Earth orbit is quite straightforward: send a spaceship 50 miles up in the air with non-professional astronauts on board. For about 10 minutes, these private passengers will experience flying through space, as well as experiment with weightlessness and see the Earth from above. This suborbital tourist ride will be done through a reusable space plane, taking off from Earth and landing back horizontally just like a regular commercial aircraft.

Virgin Galactic is one of the top private actors in making space accessible for everyone through suborbital flights. Its SpaceShipTwo spaceflight is well on its way to making low-Earth orbit space travel a reality. A single seat for a flight with Virgin Galactic reportedly costs $250,000 , but Omaze, the charity fundraising platform, and Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic founder, have teamed up to give away two seats on a flight to space on the VSS Unity. The company’s first commercial suborbital flight took place in July 2021, carrying Sir Richard Brandon alongside three crewmates.

3. Live and work in the Axiom Space Station, ISS’ replacement.

Photo: Axiom Space /Facebook

Although not yet fully developed, Axiom Space Station is aiming to become the successor of the International Space Station and the first commercial space station when the ISS retires in 2025. The private company wants to make living and working in space commonplace — by turning Axiom into the home of professional astronauts, as well as private explorers. The station will consist of modules linked to the International Space Station that will welcome a crew of 16 people micro-gravitating in low Earth orbit. The crew will stay in cabins designed by designer Philippe Starck, admiring the view through massive windows and sharing pictures with their loved ones via the Wi-Fi connection on the space station. As soon as 2022, space tourists will be able to stay 10 days on the station for the eye-watering cost of $55 million.

4. Take a trip from NYC to LA, through Space.

Photo: SpaceX , Galactic Innovation /Facebook

The idea behind Earth-to-Earth flights is to be able to get anywhere on Earth in under an hour. This would be a revolution for airplane transportation led by the BFR reusable rocket technology from private company SpaceX . The BFR would rocket to low-Earth orbit, fly toward its destination, and come back down vertically to a dedicated spaceport, making it possible to get from New York to Los Angeles in less than 30 minutes; NYC to Shanghai in 39 minutes; and Bangkok to Dubai in 24 minutes.

The rocket is still at an early stage of development. To go from orbital testing to full-on commercial Earth-to-Earth flights will certainly require a couple of extra decades. To see what an Earth-to-Earth flight would look like, check out this video . Note that the BFR acronym is not clearly defined. Some say it stands for Big Falcon Rocket although most like to think it means Big F*cking Rocket.

5. Fly around the moon like it’s no biggie.

Photo: Space Adventures

Circumlunar exploration will give space tourists access to the Moon’s vicinity. Private space operator Space Adventures ’ plans are to soon offer touristronauts the possibility to fly aboard a Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station for a 10-day stay so that they can adapt to the Space Environment and to zero gravity. After completion, the private explorers will hop back onto the Soyuz spacecraft and connect with a lunar module orbiting in low-Earth orbit — thus starting their real journey to the Moon, which will last approximately six days.

Landing on the moon is not part of the trip. The tourists will get as close as 62 miles from the moon’s surface, letting them join the elite club of the 24 astronauts who have left low-Earth orbit so far. The cost for this journey is still unknown.

6. Move to Mars.

Photo: Mars One – Human Settlement of Mars /Facebook

Mars is the ultimate destination. Having the first human on Mars will most likely occur in less than 10 years, and SpaceX and Boeing are competing to get there first. Public space agencies (NASA, ESA, ROSCOSMOS , ISRO ) are also working on their own technologies to fly there, although their flights would be dedicated to research and sampling only. Mars One is another private company advocating for human settlement on Mars although lack of funds might put their project in jeopardy. Regardless of whoever’s project gets concretized first, they’re paving the way to building a base and a self-sustaining human civilization on the red planet. We’re no longer solely talking about space tourism but about becoming full-time residents of Mars.

The first unmanned mission to Mars is planned for 2022 by SpaceX. Two years later, SpaceX intends to launch their first crewed mission. Boeing claims they’ll make it first, but that remains to be seen. These first trips will certainly not include touristronauts but will be the stepping stone to frequent travels to Mars for each and every one of us in about 80 to 100 years.

7. Ride a hot-air balloon to space.

Photo: Space Perspective

If you’re picturing a hot-air balloon ride like the ones you see in Cappadocia or Albuquerque, you’ll have to adjust your expectations. Startup Space Perspective is planning to launch a tourist flight to outer space in a balloon-like shuttle for the (comparatively) low price tag of $125,000.

In 2020 the company announced its new Spaceship Neptune, a crew capsule surrounded by massive windows, and including a minibar and bathroom. The capsule would dangle from the end of a high-altitude balloon filled with hydrogen gas and hover on the edge of space. In June 2021, the company successfully completed its first test run of the capsule’s ascent into space with no humans on board, though the bookable journey likely won’t be available until 2024.

The trip is slated to last six hours, with two hours spent ascending 100,000 feet above Earth, two hours to enjoy the view, and another two hours for the descent. Reservations are now open for 2024 if you don’t mind making a refundable deposit.

8. Stay in a ferris-wheel-like pace hotel.

Photo: Orbital Assembly /Facebook

Staying in a space hotel might sound like a pretty gigantic leap into the future, but it’s not as far away as you might think. Orbital Assembly has announced that it will begin construction on the first-ever space hotel by 2026, and it will be designed to accommodate 280 guests and 112 crew members. The hotel will be housed by Voyager Station, a commercial space station, and will recreate an Earth-like environment with artificial gravity. It will, however, have a gymnasium with lunar gravity, where people can work out, play games, and see how high they can jump in a zero-gravity environment. There will also be an opportunity to take a spacewalk. Voyager Station also plans to hire world-class chefs and top entertainment to give people a truly memorable luxury experience.

A version of this article was previously published on August 30, 2018, and was updated on July 26, 2021, with more information.

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Want to be a space tourist? Here are 6 things to consider first

The industry of space tourism could exist in the future. Image:  Unsplash/NASA

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Stay up to date:.

• In July 2021, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos went up into space, accompanied by fellow passengers.
• These trips created vast amounts of media coverage and brand recognition for Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Bezos’ Blue Origin.
• This could indicate that a commercial space tourism industry is on the horizon.
• Before space trips become commercially available, important factors such as environmental and safety laws need to be considered.

It’s been a momentous month for space-faring billionaires. On July 11, British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson’s Unity “rocket-plane” flew him and five fellow passengers about 85 kilometres above Earth. And this week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ New Shepard capsule reached an altitude of 106km , carrying Bezos, his brother, and the oldest and youngest people ever to reach such a height. Passengers on both flights experienced several minutes of weightlessness and took in breathtaking views of our beautiful and fragile Earth.

Both flights created an avalanche of media coverage and brand recognition for Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Bezos’s Blue Origin. There is renewed anticipation of a lucrative commercial space tourism industry that could eventually see thousands of paying passengers journey into space (or not quite into space, depending on your preferred level of pedantry).

This year marks 60 years since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. Since then, almost 600 trained astronauts have gone into outer space, but very few people have become space tourists.

The first, US engineer Dennis Tito, paid a reported US$20 million to spend six days orbiting Earth in the Russian section of the International Space Station in April 2001, after three months’ training at Russia’s Star City complex. He was followed by a handful of other very wealthy “orbital tourists”, most recently Cirque de Soleil founder Guy Laliberté in 2009, whose ticket reportedly cost US$35 million.

Unlike their predecessors, Branson’s and Bezos’ flights were suborbital – they didn’t reach the velocity needed to orbit Earth. Bezos’s entire flight lasted just over 10 minutes. Suborbital flights are much less technically complex, and in theory cheaper (although one seat on the New Shepard flight was auctioned for US$28 million ).

While they might quibble over billionaire bragging rights, there’s no denying that suborbital “space” flights have the potential to be less eye-wateringly expensive than going into orbital outer space and beyond.

But before you sign up – assuming you’re lucky enough to afford it – here are a few things to consider.

Where does space start, anyway?

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Despite assertions to the contrary , there is no legal definition of “outer space”, and thus no official boundary where airspace ends and outer space begins. In the past, the International Aeronautical Federation has looked to the von Karman line , but this does not coincide with the boundary of any of the atmosphere’s scientifically defined layers, and the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space , which deals with such issues, has not yet resolved the question.

Conveniently for Branson, 80km has been proposed by some experts as an appropriate boundary.

Outer space is undeniably influenced by Earthly geopolitics. Essentially, the larger space-faring countries see no need to legally define a boundary that would clearly demarcate the upper limits of their sovereignty.

Will you be an ‘astronaut’?

The 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty designates astronauts as “envoys of (hu)mankind in outer space”. Certainly, that seemed to be the case as the world watched the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing and prayed for a safe return of the stricken Apollo 13 capsule. However, the 1968 UN Rescue Agreement refers to “personnel of a spacecraft”, which may imply not everyone on board should be considered a fully fledged astronaut.

Of course, these legal niceties won’t deter space tourism companies from awarding “astronaut wings” to their passengers.

What laws apply when things go wrong?

The 1986 Challenger and 2003 Columbia shuttle disasters are stark reminders of the dangers of space travel. Human space travel has always involved determining acceptable levels of risk for trained astronauts. But commercial space tourism is different to state-sponsored space programs, and will need the highest possible safety standards.

Commercial space travel will also require a system of responsibility and liability, for cases in which a space tourist suffers injury, loss or damage.

Space tourists (or their families) can’t claim for compensation under the 1972 UN Liability Convention which, in terms of space, applies only to collisions between space objects such as satellites and space debris. While there may be scope to take legal action under national laws, it is likely space tourists will be asked to sign carefully worded waivers of liability.

The same is probably true of international air law , which applies to “aircraft” — a designation space tourism operators will understandably be keen to avoid.

Ultimately, we may need to develop a system of “aerospace law” to govern these suborbital flights as well as “transorbital” transport such as the keenly envisaged flights that might one day take passengers from Sydney to London in just a few hours.

What activities should be allowed in space?

The advent of space tourism will give rise to some interesting ethical questions. Should there be advertising billboards in space? What about casinos, or brothels? On what legal basis should these things be restricted?

How does tourism fit with the underlying philosophy of space law: that the exploration and use of outer space “shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries”?

Will space tourism harm the environment?

Space tourism will inevitably put pressure on Earth’s environment – there are claims that space vehicles may one day become the world’s biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions. We will need to manage space traffic carefully to avoid disastrous collisions and steer clear of space debris .

If tourists go to the Moon, they may cause pollution or damage the heritage of earlier exploration, such as Neil Armstrong’s footprints .

Will tourism workers have to live in space?

If space tourism does become truly widespread, it will need infrastructure and perhaps even staff. People may end up living permanently in space settlements, perhaps having children who will be born as “space citizens”. What legal rights would someone have if they were born at a Moon base? Would they be subject to terrestrial laws, or some version of current international legal rules for outer space?

The World Economic Forum was the first to draw the world’s attention to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the current period of unprecedented change driven by rapid technological advances. Policies, norms and regulations have not been able to keep up with the pace of innovation, creating a growing need to fill this gap.

The Forum established the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network in 2017 to ensure that new and emerging technologies will help—not harm—humanity in the future. Headquartered in San Francisco, the network launched centres in China, India and Japan in 2018 and is rapidly establishing locally-run Affiliate Centres in many countries around the world.

The global network is working closely with partners from government, business, academia and civil society to co-design and pilot agile frameworks for governing new and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) , autonomous vehicles , blockchain , data policy , digital trade , drones , internet of things (IoT) , precision medicine and environmental innovations .

Learn more about the groundbreaking work that the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network is doing to prepare us for the future.

Want to help us shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Contact us to find out how you can become a member or partner.

These are obviously questions for the future. But given the excitement generated by the brief journeys of a couple of wealthy entrepreneurs, we should start contemplating them now. Outer space is the new frontier, but it is not — and must not — be a lawless one.

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World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

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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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February 15, 2016

Space tourism projects at a glance

byJohn Antczak

Virgin Galactic later this month in Mojave, California, is preparing to roll out its new SpaceShipTwo, a vehicle the company hopes will one day take tourists to the edge of space. It comes roughly 15½ months since an earlier incarnation was destroyed in a test flight, killing one of the pilots. Despite the setback, the dream of sending tourists to the edge of space and beyond is still alive. Space tourism companies are employing designs including winged vehicles, vertical rockets with capsules and high-altitude balloons.

A look at projects currently under development:

VIRGIN GALACTIC

The most prominent space tourism program, the commercial space line founded by adventurer-business mogul Sir Richard Branson will use a winged rocket plane dubbed SpaceShipTwo, successor to SpaceShipOne, which in 2004 won the $10 million Ansari X Prize that was intended to spur the industry's development.

SpaceShipTwo is designed to be flown by two pilots and carry up to six passengers on a suborbital trajectory to altitudes above 62 miles (100 kilometers), an internationally recognized boundary of space.

Like early U.S. X-planes, Virgin Galactic's craft will be carried aloft by another aircraft, called WhiteKnightTwo, and released at about 50,000 feet before its rocket engine is ignited for a supersonic thrill ride to the fringes of space and a view of the Earth far below.

The space line says SpaceShipTwo's cabin is roomy enough for passengers to float during a few minutes of weightlessness before beginning an unpowered glide to a runway landing.

A key feature of the design is the so-called feathering system—a term derived from the feathers of a badminton projectile. Twin tails extending rearward from the tips of each wing rotate upward as a means to slow and stabilize SpaceShipTwo as it re-enters the atmosphere. The "feathers" then rotate back to their normal position for the rest of the glide and landing.

Virgin Galactic's first SpaceShipTwo was destroyed on Oct. 31, 2014, when a co-pilot prematurely unlocked the feathers during a powered test flight and aerodynamic forces broke the craft apart. The co-pilot was killed but the pilot parachuted to safety. The company will roll out its new SpaceShipTwo later this month in Mojave, California, but the timeline for testing and commercial operation has not been released.

Hundreds of people have put down deposits of $250,000 for a chance to fly into space with Virgin Galactic, which plans to operate from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

BLUE ORIGIN

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin project is testing a vertical-takeoff rocket topped by a six-passenger capsule for suborbital hops.

Like Astronaut Alan Shepard's pioneering 1961 flight during Project Mercury, the capsule separates from the booster rocket and descends beneath parachutes without going into orbit around the Earth.

The unconventional twist is reusability.

Blue Origin recently conducted a test launch from Texas in which the rocket dubbed New Shepard performed a vertical landing, slowing its descent by relighting its engine as it fell back to Earth. In January, the company launched the same rocket and it again landed intact.

Blue Origin says that during flights passengers will experience a few minutes of weightlessness after the capsule separates from the booster. Passengers will be able to leave their seats and float about the capsule before a signal tells them to be reseated for landing.

The company has chosen Florida for its base of operations. Details of space tourism operations have not been released.

XCOR AEROSPACE

The company has spent years developing a rocket plane named Lynx that is intended to be capable of making multiple flights each day with a pilot and one passenger aboard.

Unlike Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, the Lynx will take off under its own power from a runway, climb toward space and then glide back to a runway landing. XCOR also plans flights surpassing an altitude of 62 miles.

In December, the company said it reached a milestone in development of the Lynx propulsion system by successfully using waste heat to drive essential engine parts, eliminating the need for large and heavy tanks of compressed gas.

XCOR, now headquartered in Midland, Texas, also reported progress late last year in completing structural components of its first Lynx as well as a flight simulator system for pilot training.

The company says it has more than 350 clients. The price of booking a seat rose from $100,000 to $150,000 on Jan. 1, but the company has not said when flights will begin.

"The fact is that we are in a process in which you just can't rush things," Lynx test pilot Harry van Hulten said in press release last fall.

The Arizona company plans to loft passengers to altitudes above 100,000 feet in a capsule suspended below a "parawing" and a helium balloon.

The trip some 19 miles high would be to "near space" but would give a substantial view of the Earth far below while avoiding the stress of G forces endured during rocket flight.

Compared to flights on rocket-powered space tourism vehicles offering a few minutes at the top of a suborbital trajectory, World View envisions spending two hours at the maximum altitude, with amenities such as a lavatory.

The two-member crew then begins the landing process by venting helium until the capsule descends to 50,000 feet. The balloon is then released and the parawing allows the capsule to glide to a landing spot.

The company announced last month that it plans to conduct launches from Spaceport Tucson.

Things to know about the space tourism industry

Space tourism projects leaped off the drawing board when a $10 million prize was offered as an incentive for private development of manned rockets, but it took years to make a winner. Many more years have passed since, but the only space tourists have been a few wealthy people who paid millions of dollars for trips aboard Russian rockets to the International Space Station. Things to know about space tourism:

In 1995, the St. Louis-based X Prize Foundation conceived the idea of a $10 million reward for development of a privately financed, reusable spaceship capable of carrying three people to an altitude of 62 miles twice within two weeks.

The X Prize announcement the following year was timed to an anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's nonstop flight from New York to Paris aboard the Spirit of St. Louis in 1927, which won the aviator the $25,000 Orteig Prize that was offered in 1919 for the trans-Atlantic flight.

At the time the X Prize was announced, maverick aerospace designer Burt Rutan, creator of the Voyager aircraft that circled the globe in 1986, speculated that the $10 million prize could be won in three years. In fact it took more than eight.

SPACESHIPONE

The Kittyhawk moment for private manned spaceflight occurred on June 21, 2004, when SpaceShipOne—designed by Rutan and funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen—soared more than 62 miles above the California desert and then glided to a landing at Mojave Airport as crowds cheered.

Standing by the stubby-winged, three-seat spacecraft, test pilot Mike Melvill said seeing the curvature of the Earth from that altitude was "almost a religious experience."

The feat placed SpaceShipOne in the lead among more than two dozen competitors for the $10 million reward, by then renamed the Ansari X Prize after the Ansari family of Dallas, which made its wealth in telecommunications and funded the prize.

Rutan subsequently announced he would go for the prize later that year.

SpaceShipOne launched again on Sept. 29, reaching the required altitude after Melvill ignored a request to abort because the craft went into a series of rolls. Well within the two-week period required by the contest, the craft launched on Oct. 4 with test pilot Brian Binnie at the controls. After it landed, X Prize founder Peter Diamandis announced the altitude was official and the SpaceShipOne team clinched the prize.

WHERE DOES SPACE BEGIN?

Earth's atmosphere does not abruptly stop and the vacuum of space begin, but the altitude of 62 miles (100 kilometers) is accepted as a useful boundary line by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, a keeper of flight records.

Known as the Karman line, it is used to distinguish between aeronautics and astronautics. Melvill, the SpaceShipOne pilot, received the first commercial astronaut wings awarded by the Federal Aviation Administration after surpassing the line.

The U.S. Air Force, however, awarded astronaut wings to five of its pilots who flew above 50 miles decades ago in X-15 rocket planes used for hypersonic research. Three civilian X-15 pilots who also surpassed that altitude were belatedly awarded astronaut wings in 2005, two posthumously.

The first American in space, Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, rocketed to an altitude of 116 miles on May 5, 1961.

In a remote stretch of desert in southern New Mexico, officials at Spaceport America—the world's first futuristic hangar and runway designed specifically for commercial space travel—have been anxiously awaiting Virgin Galactic.

Taxpayers footed the nearly quarter-billion-dollar bill for the spaceport years ago in hopes of it being a gateway for space tourism. With Virgin as the anchor tenant, the delay in flights has made it tough for the spaceport to get off the ground.

Spaceport director Christine Anderson can't wait to attend the upcoming unveiling of SpaceShipTwo. She said seeing it in person will make the progress even more real.

"I'm excited they have a spaceship built and things are looking forward and it's full speed ahead for them," she said.

Anderson acknowledged there's no question that Virgin Galactic is the linchpin for the state's space tourism aspirations. With flights expected to start sometime in 2017, the spaceport expects to see as many as 100,000 visitors by 2020.

© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Space Tourism, Features, Ongoing Projects and Challenges

Entrepreneur and pilot Gopi Thotakura is set to become the first Indian to venture into space as a tourist. Check Out Space Tourism, Features, Ongoing Projects and Challenges

Table of Contents

Context: Entrepreneur and pilot Gopi Thotakura is set to become the first Indian to venture into space as a tourist on the NS-25 mission of Blue Origin — a company founded by Jeff Bezos.

Understanding Space Tourism

• Definition: Space tourism encompasses providing tourists with the opportunity to venture into space, either for leisure, recreation, or business purposes.
• Types: There are two primary types of space tourism:
• Sub-orbital: Passengers are taken just beyond the Kármán line , spending a few minutes in outer space before returning to Earth. Examples include Blue Origin’s New Shepard missions.
• Orbital: Passengers travel much further, spending days or even weeks at altitudes of around 1.3 million feet. Space X’s Falcon 9 mission in September 2021 is an example of orbital space tourism.

Space Tourism Features

Suborbital space tourism, orbital space tourism.

Involves traveling into orbit around the Earth and spending a few days in space. SpaceX plans to launch an orbital flight with a private citizen in 2023.  

Space Tourism Ongoing Projects

Challenges in space tourism.

• Cost Barrier: Space tourism remains prohibitively expensive, with tickets typically costing at least a million dollars, making it inaccessible to the majority.
• Environmental Impact: Studies suggest that space tourism could contribute to environmental damage, as rockets emit gaseous and solid chemicals directly into the upper atmosphere. Research from University College London (UCL), the University of Cambridge, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) highlights the warming effects of soot emissions from rocket launches.
• Safety Concerns : Despite stringent safety standards, space tourism poses inherent risks. Statistics indicate that approximately 3% of astronauts have died during space flight, underscoring safety as a paramount concern.

Sharing is caring!

Space Tourism FAQs

What is the space tourism.

Space tourism is another niche segment of the aviation industry that seeks to give tourists the ability to become astronauts and experience space travel for recreational, leisure, or business purposes.

Who discovered space tourism?

Since the flight of the world's first space tourist, American businessman Dennis Tito, on April 28, 2001, space tourism has gained new prominence as more suborbital and orbital tourism opportunities have become available.

How important is space tourism?

There are a few scientific benefits of space tourism, though the most recent flights were perhaps not long enough to offer too much insight. When, in the future, we see longer space flights, we'll have the opportunity to study long-term physiological changes in humans as a result of being in space.

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Space Tourism

Last updated on January 5, 2024 by ClearIAS Team

The monetization of space technology has expanded with the involvement of the private sector in the space race.

The Indian Space Research Organization intends to create a unique spaceship that will transport people to and from space.

A business named Blue Origin just finished the online auction for the first seat on the New Shephard rocket system, which is intended to transport visitors into space.

Table of Contents

What is Space Tourism?

Space tourism refers to the commercial activity of sending private individuals, often referred to as space tourists, into space for recreational, leisure, or adventure purposes.

While space exploration has traditionally been the domain of government agencies like NASA and Roscosmos, the emerging space tourism industry aims to make space travel accessible to private citizens.

• Suborbital space tourism involves brief journeys beyond Earth’s atmosphere, allowing passengers to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth.
• Orbital space tourism, on the other hand, entails longer journeys, potentially involving stays aboard space stations.

Preparation for space tourists:

• During the flight and the landing, passengers must be cushioned and protected from strong acceleration. To handle weightlessness, the cabin needs to be pressurized, and all furniture needs to be fastened.
• To shield the craft from heat produced by friction, insulation is needed.

Space tourism has generated significant public interest and media attention. Successful test flights and high-profile events, such as the suborbital flights of billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, have contributed to raising awareness about the possibilities of commercial space travel.

Significance

The following are the significance of space tourism.

Huge Market: The anticipated market size for these flights is 2.4 million people.

The base for Testing: By greatly reducing travel time, it can serve as a base for testing supersonic travel between various locations on Earth. Additionally, it signals the entrance of the private sector into this field.

Several private companies have entered the space tourism industry, aiming to offer commercial spaceflights. Prominent examples include Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Virgin Galactic, founded by Sir Richard Branson. These companies have developed spacecraft designed to carry paying customers on suborbital journeys.

The future of space tourism

Wealthy adventure travelers may soon have access to space tourism. For instance, Virgin Galactic has received over 500 early reservations for the VSS Unity for $250,000.

To put it into perspective, people pay $50,000 to climb Everest as part of package excursions with guides, trainers, and devoted Sherpa teams.

The future of space tourism holds the promise of increased competition, reduced costs, and expanded offerings. Companies are exploring advancements in technology, infrastructure, and customer experience to make space tourism a more commonplace and accessible activity.

Beyond suborbital flights, there are visions for more ambitious space tourism endeavors, including orbital hotels, lunar tourism, and journeys to destinations beyond Earth’s orbit. These concepts remain in the realm of future possibilities but highlight the potential evolution of the space tourism industry.

The environmental impact of space tourism, particularly in terms of rocket emissions, is a topic of discussion. As the industry grows, there is increasing emphasis on developing environmentally friendly propulsion technologies and sustainable practices.

Climate Change: Unlike soot or black carbon found in the lower atmosphere, soot or black carbon resulting from rocket exhaust accumulates in the stratosphere (about 5 to 31 miles above the Earth). Black carbon may stay in the stratosphere for years as a result, accelerating climate change.

Health: There may be issues with passengers’ health due to the possibility of motion sickness and disorientation, which can impair eyesight, cognition, balance, and motor control.

Challenges with the entry of private players:  Private organizations frequently concentrate on relatively specialized technologies with immediate gratification. Publicly funded national space organizations that did not seek out quick gains have contributed to development in a wide range of fields, including contemporary communications, geolocation systems, renewable energy use, weather forecasting, etc.

What is New Shephard?

• The spaceport of New Shephard, which bears the name of the first American astronaut Alan Shephard, offers payload space and flights to orbits more than 100 kilometers above the planet.
• It is a rocket system developed to carry people and scientific payloads past the Karman line.
• Access to space for activities like academic research, business technology development, and entrepreneurial endeavors, among others, is intended to be made simpler and more affordable.
• By launching them 100 kilometers above the Earth, it will also enable space visitors to experience microgravity.
• When anything or someone appears to be weightless, this is known as microgravity. Astronauts and things floating in space exhibit the effects of microgravity.

Private space tourism projects

• Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and SpaceX—three significant private companies—made huge investments in space ventures.
• Six people on the VSS Unity spacecraft just departed from New Mexico, traveled 85 kilometers away from Earth, and then returned.
• The online auction for the first seat on the New Shephard rocket system was recently finished by Blue Origin, the space business founded by the founder of Amazon.
• Even Mars is a goal for SpaceX. The International Space Station (ISS) is already stocked with SpaceX rockets, which also ferry astronauts there and back.

Advantages of Space tourism missions

• The construction materials and design aspects could be applied to safety features in automobiles and high-speed trains.
• The removal of space debris might provide another set of advantages. The current Artemis Accords and the 1976 Space Registration Convention both advocate for removing space junk. The presence of wealthy visitors will heighten the sense of urgency.

Indian Efforts

The first Gaganyaan manned mission, primarily a research mission to show an indigenous capability to conduct human space flight missions, has not yet been launched, and space tourism in India has been long delayed.

If all test missions are successful, the human mission is planned to launch between 2024 and 2025.

For the time being, space tourism is a pipe dream that ISRO must first make a reality by completing the Gaganyaan program flawlessly and through many iterations, developing and successfully launching a reusable rocket designed for tourist transportation, and ensuring that all systems are reliable, affordable, and economically viable.

Around 2028, it’s expected that Indian space travel would be economically feasible. We will have to wait and see what happens till then.

What is IN-Space?

The Department of Space of the Indian government is the single-window independent organization known as the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe). The Center coordinates and manages India’s space operations.

IN-SPACe will work as a link between ISRO and private sector companies to establish “how effectively to exploit India’s space resources and enhance space-based activity.”

The center will evaluate the demands of private sector companies, including educational institutions, in cooperation with ISRO, and attempt to suit those demands.

According to Sivan, the decisions made by the center would apply to both ISRO and private-sector firms. Previously, ISRO oversaw the space sector, but it will now focus on its core mandate of research and development.

India and Global Space Tourism

The space tourism market has boomed in recent years, with commercial aerospace companies dominating it. The Dragon space spacecraft from SpaceX, which was founded by billionaire Elon Musk, is the industry leader in space tourism because of its ability to transport visitors through zero gravity.

Another significant rival in the market is the New Shepard spacecraft from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which launches from West Texas and takes people on quick joyrides to space. The flights give the visitors a view of Earth from above and last for around ten minutes.

Also, read about Space Internet .

Way Forward

Considerations for health, comfort, and safety are essential. Before visitors travel to space, training, medical exams, and liability waivers will need to be reviewed.

Although it will only represent a minor portion of the market, space tourism will benefit the entire New Space sector.

When space travel does become commonplace, it will also have a favorable effect on many socioeconomic aspects of Earth’s society, including the development of new solar-powered energy infrastructure and the creation of jobs.

Also read:  Space missions in 2024

Article Written by: Remya

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April 29, 2023 at 11:28 pm

You may also include startups in India which are focusing on Space tourism. You’ll be able to find a list on IN-SPACe digital platform.

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Jeff Bezos’s Ambitious Orbital Reef Space Station Clears Essential Milestones: A ScienceAlert Update

T he future of the International Space Station (ISS) is limited, and NASA has begun investment into its successors. Orbital Reef, a space station project co-developed by Jeff Bezos ‘s Blue Origin and Sierra Space, appears to be a leading contender, having made significant progress recently.

It has been reported by NASA on Wednesday that Orbital Reef passed critical technology development milestones, which included a recycling system designed to convert astronauts’ urine into drinkable water.

Angela Hart, the program manager for NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program, emphasized the importance of these milestones, as they are crucial for ensuring that a commercial space station can sustain human life.

Throughout the testing process, the Orbital Reef’s regenerative system demonstrated capabilities in air purification, urine recovery, and water tank management.

NASA’s ISS follows a similar method for recycling water and oxygen generated from human activities, including converting urine into potable water, a process benefiting the agency by reducing launch costs and saving money.

Emergence of Blue Origin’s Space Station

NASA’s funding of Blue Origin and Sierra Space to the tune of US$172 million is in line with their objective to see the development of commercially operated American space stations in low-Earth orbit to succeed the ISS.

With these new stations, NASA envisions continued astronaut deployments and commercial opportunities, including space tourism.

NASA is transitioning the responsibility of maintaining low-Earth orbits to commercial entities to reallocate funds towards more ambitious projects like the Artemis missions aimed at establishing a human presence on the moon, lunar orbit, and possibly, a Mars mission in the future.

The Decline of the ISS

The aging ISS is contending with issues such as cracks in Russian modules and air leaks. The commitment by the Biden administration to maintain the ISS until 2030 will hopefully allow time for the transition to Orbital Reef or equivalent commercial space stations.

Although ticket prices for a trip to Orbital Reef are not yet disclosed, for budgetary reference, short suborbital trips with Blue Origin’s New Shepard are currently in the multimillions.

This article draws upon information originally published by Business Insider .

Orbital Reef is a proposed commercial space station developed as a collaboration between Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Sierra Space.

Orbital Reef has successfully passed tests on its regenerative system, which included air purification and urine recycling into drinkable water.

NASA is funding commercial space stations to shift the burden of low-Earth orbit operations onto private companies, enabling NASA to focus on deeper space exploration ventures, such as missions to the moon and Mars.

NASA awarded Blue Origin and Sierra Space a combined sum of US$172 million for the development of the space station.

The ISS recycles water through a system that purifies water from various human activities, including urine, which is turned into drinkable water. This reduces launch costs for the agency.

The ISS is set to be operational until at least 2030, after which it will potentially be replaced by commercial space stations like Orbital Reef.

The progress of Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Sierra Space’s Orbital Reef represents a significant stride in the development of the next generation of space stations. As NASA shifts its focus towards ambitious projects such as Artemis, Orbital Reef’s completion of key technological milestones showcases the potential for commercial entities to take up the mantle of low-Earth orbit operations. With the ISS approaching the end of its lifespan, the era of commercial space stations that cater to both professional astronauts and space tourists is drawing nearer, signaling a new age in space exploration and travel.

We could all use a break, a chance to snap out of our routines, to step away from work and wander. Our most common impulse is to plan a trip and take a vacation. As wonderful as that can be, what if we tapped into this traveling state of mind when we stayed in place? How might we play and dream where we already live?

Image’s 26th issue invites you to lean into the space of reverie and fantasy without the need to get on a plane. What if you spent the night at a cozy local hotel? Or tried on a pair of green-tinted sunglasses for the day? DJ and stylist Giselle Lopez takes us to Mariachi Plaza, where she hears cumbia sonidera bands on the weekends, and styles herself for the occasion (Acne Studios bag in tow). Johnny Valencia has us traveling back in time with fits from his vintage archive, Pechuga Vintage, including a scintillating Gucci silver mesh mask that might have its wearer feeling like a disco ball. How liberating might it be to perform and try on different selves, especially if we can have the Wiltern stage as our backdrop?

But perhaps what is most obviously within reach and frequently overlooked is our nightly invitation to travel within our own dreams. Louise Rosager, who teaches “dream work” to actors and writers around L.A., will guide you in talking with your dreams (a warning: they talk back). The Dreaming Life, as Jenny Boully labels it in her essay, is not an escape, but it might be your “way out” — a means to confront your Waking Life and make it more beautiful. So go forth, travel with your dreams. Boully even has a list for you to keep by your bedside to remind you how. Enjoy the journey.

Elisa Wouk Almino Deputy Editor

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Recap: Open XR Lab Open House

On April 12th, Wichita State University's College of Innovation and Design (CID) hosted an Open House for its newly launched Open XR Lab in Devlin Hall. Coinciding with the International Day of Human Spaceflight, the event showcased the lab's focus on VR and AR design, particularly in NASA-inspired projects.

Led by CID faculty Maggie Schoonover and Kristyn Waits, the Open XR Lab serves as a hub for interdisciplinary collaboration, emphasizing design thinking and agile methodologies. Inclusivity is a key priority, with a focus on providing research opportunities and mentorship to underrepresented groups in STEM.

Attendees had the chance to explore various demos and projects during the Open House, gaining insights into the innovative work happening within the lab. As well as participate in some team bonding by making bracelets and choosing which custom stickers they wanted to take with them.

It was a very busy day for our team, as the NASA SUITS Team also showcased their research during the Poster Session for the WSU Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Forum (URCAF) . This event not only underscored the lab's role in advancing XR research but also provided invaluable practice for undergraduate students in presenting their research to a live audience.

As this year's projects come to a close, the CID Open XR Lab is gearing up for the next round of research initiatives. Stay tuned as we set our sights on new horizons and continue to push the boundaries of XR innovation.

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