Space tourism is indeed the future of travel. What was once accessible only to scientists and astronauts is an experience open to anyone. However, the tickets are expensive — $4,950. The future is not so distant when space travel will be a more standard part of human existence. Only 560 people have journeyed on to space, but the rise of commercial space tourism will, someday soon, radically increase that number.
Elon Musk — whom the BBC has called “both bonkers and brilliant” — sincerely aims to build a colony on Mars, and his company, SpaceX, is planning to take two tourists on a trip around the moon this year itself. Jeffrey P. Bezos envisions millions of people going about their daily business in space and has founded a company, Blue Origin, to make it happen. Richard Branson’s commercial spaceflight company, Virgin Galactic, has declared that it has a goal of “democratizing access to space.”
A ride on Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft will cost $250,000. Despite that massive cost, roughly 700 people, from 50 countries, have signed up — even though the company doesn’t have a fixed launch date. Already Virgin Galactic has enlisted more people than have travelled to space in all of human history.
Tags: Space tourism
