For a long time, space was only available to professional astronauts. But science fiction is slowly becoming reality — and today the word “tourist” increasingly appears in the same sentence with “orbit” and “weightlessness”. Every year, space tourism is getting closer to the mass market, although for now it remains a pleasure for the very rich. Who has already flown into space for the experience? How much does it cost? And when will it be possible to buy a ticket without selling your apartment?
Advertising
When did it all start?
The first space tourist did not appear yesterday. In 2001, American businessman Dennis Tito became the first person to buy a seat on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. He paid about $20 million for a week on the ISS.
He was followed by six more tourists — all through a Russian program supported by the Space Adventures company. However, since the 2010s, flights have ceased — priority has been given to professional astronauts. Everything changed with the advent of private space companies.
Who offers space tourism today?
1. Blue Origin (New Shepard project)
The company, founded by Jeff Bezos, was the first to launch an entirely civilian crew into orbit. In July 2021, Bezos himself, his brother, 82-year-old pilot Wally Funk and an 18-year-old student made a suborbital flight.
Flight:
Duration: ~10–11 minutes
Altitude: about 100 km (Karmana)
Price: ~200–400 thousand dollars (not officially confirmed)
Conditions: short weightlessness, views of the Earth from the windows
Since then, the company has regularly conducted suborbital flights.
2. Virgin Galactic
Richard Branson and his VSS Unity spaceplane fly passengers to the edge of the atmosphere. The first tourist flight took place in 2021.
Flight:
Altitude: ~80–90 km
Duration: about 90 minutes (including ~5 minutes of weightlessness)
Price: $450,000
Launch: horizontal launch from a carrier aircraft
Virgin Galactic is betting on mass tourism. The queue for flights is scheduled for years in advance, but this is no longer the transcendental space, but a real market.
3. SpaceX
Elon Musk’s company is betting not on suborbit, but on real orbital missions. In 2021, it sent an entirely tourist mission, Inspiration4, into orbit, where the crew consisted of four non-professionals.
Flight:
Altitude: 575 km (higher than the ISS)
Duration: 3 days
Price: estimated to be around $50-100 million per mission
SpaceX partners with companies that sell flights to wealthy clients, such as Axiom Space. In 2022, three tourists and one professional astronaut spent more than 10 days on the ISS.
Who has already flown?
In addition to Tito and Bezos, the list of “private” astronauts includes:
Yusaku Maezawa – Japanese billionaire, spent 12 days on the ISS
