WebsiteCompass 7 Space tourism is similar to conventional tourism in that it involves exploring places away from home. However, space tourism is much more dangerous and complex. Space Tourism is Taking Off Early Trips The first space tourism trip took place in 2001. American engineer and entrepreneur Dennis Tito was among the passengers on the spacecraft Soyuz TM-32, which traveled to the ISS. The trip lasted eight days. Since then, numerous other space tourists from various countries have visited ISS or been passengers on sub-orbital (near Earth) and low Earth (further away from Earth) orbit spaceflights. Billionaire CEOs Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson famously joined sub-orbital spaceflights in 2021. Concerns While a space tourism trip may sound like the adventure of a lifetime, anyone considering it should be aware of potential concerns. They include health risks such as radiation exposure, cardiovascular stress, muscle atrophy, and impaired vision. Environmental issues are another concern, in the form of climate-damaging soot and other pollution. Space tourism also holds the potential for unsafe equipment or environments in which accidents could occur. Companies A number of companies are early providers of space tourism services: • Axiom Space, whose space tourism customers include researchers, filmmakers, and photographers • Blue Origin, founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos • SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002 • Virgin Galactic, whose first spaceflight occurred in 2018 • Zephalto, which offers space travel experiences in stratospheric balloons With all the activity and excitement surrounding the space tourism industry, it’s expected to grow from $765.44 million in 2022 to around $9 billion in 2030. Trips to ISS by private citizens have cost tens of millions of dollars but experts expect that cost to decline over time. QUICK TIP: View amazing visualizations of the galaxy at worldwidetelescope.org. Going to Space Becomes Affordable-ish If you’re wondering if it’s possible for you to become a space tourist, the answer is, technically, yes. Currently companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are providing brief suborbital flights with costs as low as $250,000. While that’s still a lot of money, it’s considerably less than the tens of millions paid by non-astronauts who have traveled to more distant destinations. Here’s how Travel + Leisure described the Blue Origin trip, which launches from Van Horn, Texas: “[A] 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 involves a rocket-powered spaceplane that houses six passengers and two pilots. It takes off from a spaceport near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, spends a few minutes in space, and returns to Earth on a runway.
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