Human Wonders Space Travel – Your Next Holiday Destination? [Infographic]

Ready for the ultimate adventure? Start saving now, because in the not-too-distant future, space travel will be more than just a science fiction dream. Let us take you on a journey through the exciting world of luxury space tourism.

The height of luxury now sits 65 miles above the Earth. Last month, six lucky space tourists – ranging from a former party supplies tycoon to a university professor – floated weightlessly aboard Jeff Bezos’s New Shepard capsule. This was the 20th successful launch of Blue Origin, Bezos’s $1bn-a-year space venture, and the first without a celebrity on board. The mission, however, was still filled with excitement, even though Pete Davidson had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict.

A new space race is unfolding, but this time, it’s not about nations competing for power. It’s private companies, like Blue Origin, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, taking civilians into space. Last year, Branson’s rocket plane soared 53.4 miles, while Musk’s Falcon rockets made 31 successful flights. Space is becoming more accessible than ever.

“2021 was the most exciting year for U.S. space since 1969,” says Roman Chiporukha, CEO of SpaceVIP

SpaceVIP is a travel company catering to the wealthy wanting to experience space. Prices vary, from 120,000 $ for a six-hour suborbital trip with Space Perspective to 130,00 $ for a Virgin Galactic flight. And for a truly out-of-this-world experience, 51$ million will get you a ticket to the International Space Station with Axiom Space, which is training private astronauts. Space tourism is no longer a far-off dream—it’s becoming a reality for those with deep pockets.

If your pocket money has some coins left and you did not miss the last bull run of Bitcoin (BTC), you might choose the way you want to explore. Even if one sample below does not exist anymore, others will follow.

Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo is a key player in the emerging world of commercial space tourism. As part of Branson’s Virgin Galactic company, SpaceShipTwo is designed to take paying passengers on suborbital flights into space, offering a brief but thrilling experience of weightlessness and views of Earth from above.

Key Details:

• First Flight and Development: SpaceShipTwo was developed by Scaled Composites, with the first successful test flight taking place in 2013. The vehicle was designed to carry passengers on suborbital flights to the edge of space, about 50 miles above Earth, which is generally recognized as the boundary of space.
• Design and Structure:
  • SpaceShipTwo is a suborbital spaceplane, meaning it combines features of both an aircraft and a spacecraft.
  • The ship is mothership-launched, meaning it is carried aloft by a carrier plane called WhiteKnightTwo before being released into the sky, where it then ignites its rocket engines for a flight to the edge of space.
  • The spacecraft itself is piloted, but the company plans for space tourists to be on board for these flights as passengers.
• Spaceflight Experience: The journey is designed to offer passengers:
  • A few minutes of weightlessness as the vehicle ascends into space and then freefalls back to Earth.
  • Spectacular views of Earth from space, including a curved horizon and the ability to see the blackness of space above.
  • The flight lasts around 90 minutes, with passengers experiencing a momentary weightlessness during the peak of the suborbital trajectory.
• SpaceShipTwo’s Tests and Milestones:
  • December 2018 saw the first successful powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo, known as VSS Unity (the vehicle used for future commercial flights), marking a major milestone for the company.
  • July 11, 2021, was a monumental day in the history of Virgin Galactic and the wider space tourism industry, as Richard Branson himself flew to space aboard VSS Unity alongside three other company employees. This marked the first crewed spaceflight for the company, with Branson becoming one of the first billionaires to travel to space in a suborbital vehicle.
• Ticket Sales and Prices: Virgin Galactic has started selling tickets to the public for its suborbital flights. Prices started at around $200,000 to $250,000 per ticket, but with future flights and advancements, the prices are expected to eventually drop as demand increases and the company scales up its operations.
• Future of Virgin Galactic and Space Tourism:
  • The company aims to make space tourism accessible to the public on a broader scale, though it’s still in its early stages. Virgin Galactic hopes to increase the frequency of flights and eventually offer space tourism as a luxury experience for people who can afford it.
  • As part of this effort, the company has already begun taking pre-orders and hopes to expand its fleet and production to accommodate more passengers in the coming years.

Virgin Galactic and SpaceShipTwo continue to push the envelope in the new age of space tourism, making it more accessible to the wealthy and opening doors for future exploration of commercial space.

Virgin Galactic VSSUnity

XCOR Aerospace and Lynx Spacecraft

The Short Life and Death of a Space Tourism Company. They had brains, vision, drive. Where did XCOR go wrong?

Jeff Creason is associated with XCOR Aerospace, a company focused on developing cutting-edge space technology. The company was particularly well-known for its development of the Lynx spacecraft, a suborbital spaceplane designed for space tourism and research.

XCOR Aerospace was founded in 1999 by a group of engineers and entrepreneurs, including Jeff Creason. The company focused on building reusable space vehicles, with a goal of lowering the cost of access to space.

The Lynx spacecraft was a single-stage, suborbital spaceplane designed to carry both passengers and scientific payloads into space. It was built to provide suborbital flights to the edge of space, similar to other space tourism ventures like Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.

Key Details:

• Design:
  • The Lynx was designed to be launched from a runway, using rocket-powered engines to ascend into space. It would offer weightlessness for a short period, allowing passengers to experience the thrill of space.
  • Unlike other space tourism vehicles, the Lynx was designed to be piloted, but it also had room for a small number of passengers.
  • It was also envisioned to be reusable, meaning it could be flown multiple times, further reducing the costs of space access.
• Development:
  • In the early 2010s, XCOR Aerospace began testing components for the Lynx, with the aim of launching commercial flights. The spacecraft went through various stages of testing, but it faced several technical and financial challenges.
• Challenges and Closure:
  • Despite the excitement and ambitious goals, XCOR Aerospace faced financial struggles and technical delays, and by 2017, the company was officially shut down. These setbacks included difficulties with funding and the complexity of building a reusable spaceplane.
  • As a result, the Lynx spacecraft never made it to commercial flight, and the project was ultimately discontinued.
• Legacy: Even though XCOR Aerospace and the Lynx spacecraft didn’t succeed in the way many had hoped, they played an important role in advancing the space tourism industry and pushing the boundaries of reusable spacecraft design. Their work, along with that of other private companies like Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, helped pave the way for future commercial space ventures.

While XCOR Aerospace and the Lynx spacecraft are no longer active, their contributions to space exploration and the development of reusable space vehicles are still remembered as part of the early steps toward making space travel more accessible.

World View Enterprises high-altitude balloon

World View Enterprises is a company that specializes in high-altitude balloon flights aimed at providing space tourism experiences and conducting scientific research. One of its key offerings is the high-altitude balloon system, designed to send passengers and payloads into the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere, near the edge of space.

Key Features:

Purpose and Concept:

• World View’s high-altitude balloon is designed to lift a pressurized capsule to over 100,000 feet (around 30 km) above Earth, far higher than conventional commercial airliners, but below the Kármán line (the recognized boundary of space, at 62 miles or 100 km).
• The company’s goal is to provide passengers with a suborbital experience to witness the curvature of the Earth, the blackness of space, and the incredible views, all while being more affordable compared to traditional rocket-based space tourism.

The Capsule:

• The capsule is a pressurized space where up to eight passengers can sit comfortably in large windows, providing a panoramic view of Earth. The ride is expected to last between 2 to 6 hours, including a slow ascent and a leisurely descent back to the Earth.
• The capsule is carried aloft by a high-altitude helium balloon. The journey is intended to be smooth and gentle, with no G-forces, making it an accessible experience for a wider range of people compared to rocket-based space tourism.

Ascend and Descent:

• The balloon slowly ascends to altitudes where passengers will experience a gradual transition into the upper atmosphere. Once at peak altitude, the capsule is released, and the passengers float back down to Earth using a parachute system for a safe landing.

Scientific Research and Other Uses:

• In addition to providing a thrilling experience for tourists, World View’s high-altitude balloons are also used for scientific research and earth observation. The balloons can carry scientific instruments to gather data on atmospheric conditions, climate change, and other environmental factors.
• World View has also explored the potential for using the technology for satellite deployment, global communication, and even space exploration research.

Cost and Accessibility:

• World View’s offerings are expected to be much more affordable compared to traditional space tourism. Tickets for a flight aboard one of its high-altitude balloons are priced at around $50,000, a fraction of the cost of rocket-based space tourism offered by companies like Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin.

Future and Vision:

• World View’s ultimate goal is to make access to space more accessible to people from all walks of life, while also using the high-altitude balloon technology for a variety of commercial, scientific, and military purposes. They envision this technology being part of a broader space tourism and earth observation industry in the future.

World View’s high-altitude balloon rides are part of a broader trend in space tourism that seeks to offer more affordable, accessible, and gentle experiences for civilians interested in seeing the Earth from above. By using a balloon rather than a rocket, the company aims to provide a safe, peaceful, and visually stunning journey into the edge of space.

Blue Origin New Shepard Rocket

Blue Origin is Jeff Bezos’s private aerospace company, founded in 2000 with the goal of revolutionizing space travel and making it more affordable and accessible. The company is focused on developing technologies to enable private human spaceflight, commercial space exploration, and a future where millions of people can live and work in space. Blue Origin aims to make space travel routine, affordable, and safe.

Key Features:

Founding and Vision:

• Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, created Blue Origin with a long-term vision of reducing the cost of space travel and helping humanity transition from being a planet-bound species to a spacefaring one.
• The company focuses on reusable rocket technology, which Bezos believes is crucial for reducing the cost of space access.

Key Achievements:

• New Shepard Rocket: Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket is a suborbital vehicle designed to carry passengers to the edge of space. It is named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space.
  • The New Shepard rocket is reusable, with both the rocket booster and the crew capsule returning to Earth and being recovered for future flights. This reusable system is aimed at drastically reducing the cost of launching rockets.
  • In 2021, Blue Origin achieved a major milestone by successfully launching Jeff Bezos and a crew of three others on July 20, 2021, on a brief suborbital flight to space. This was Blue Origin’s first crewed spaceflight and marked a major step forward for space tourism.
• New Glenn Rocket: In addition to the New Shepard, Blue Origin is also developing the New Glenn rocket, a larger orbital-class vehicle designed to carry heavy payloads into space. New Glenn will be capable of sending satellites and other cargo to orbit, with reusable technology similar to the New Shepard.
• Blue Moon Lunar Lander: Blue Origin has also been working on the Blue Moon lunar lander, a spacecraft designed to carry payloads, including scientific instruments, to the Moon. The project is part of the company’s vision of expanding humanity’s presence in space and contributing to NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon.
• Focus on Reusability: One of the main principles behind Blue Origin is making space travel more affordable and sustainable through reusable rockets. This is similar to SpaceX’s approach but with a distinct focus on passenger flights and commercial payloads. By reusing components like the rocket boosters and the crew capsule, the company aims to dramatically lower the cost of space missions and open the door to frequent, low-cost space travel.

Space Tourism:

• With the success of New Shepard, Blue Origin has entered the space tourism market, aiming to provide suborbital flights for civilians who can afford the ticket. These short trips offer passengers a chance to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see Earth from space.
• Tickets for Blue Origin’s New Shepard flights are expected to cost several hundred thousand dollars, though the price may decrease over time as the technology becomes more mature and the company increases its capacity to launch more frequent missions.

Future Goals and Missions:

• Blue Origin’s long-term vision includes human colonies in space, with the idea of using space resources to create a new economic and living frontier. In the coming years, the company plans to make space tourism and commercial space ventures more accessible, and even to contribute to space exploration efforts, including supporting NASA missions and returning humans to the Moon.

In summary, Blue Origin has become a significant player in the commercial space sector, aiming to revolutionize space travel with a focus on reusability, sustainability, and affordability. By achieving milestones in suborbital space tourism, orbital rockets, and lunar missions, Blue Origin is steadily making Jeff Bezos’s vision of a future where humanity can live and work in space a reality.

SpaceX Starship

SpaceX and Starship

SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002, is one of the most ambitious and well-known private aerospace companies in the world. Musk’s vision for SpaceX is not just to launch satellites or cargo into space but to make humanity a multi-planetary species, with the ultimate goal of enabling interplanetary travel—especially sending people to Mars. SpaceX has also ventured into space tourism, offering trips for civilians into space, which is becoming an increasingly popular and exciting frontier in space exploration.

Elon Musk has always been vocal about his goal of reducing the cost of space travel. He envisions a future where space is more accessible to everyday people, not just astronauts or government entities.

Musk has also mentioned that one of SpaceX’s missions is to pave the way for human settlement on Mars, but in the near term, the company is making space tourism a reality through its private spaceflights.

Key Aspects:

Crew Dragon Spacecraft:

• SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is a fully autonomous spacecraft developed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and space tourists on private missions.
• The Crew Dragon is designed to carry up to seven passengers, with large windows offering panoramic views of Earth and space. The spacecraft is reusable, making it more cost-efficient for both commercial and governmental missions.
• Crew Dragon was originally developed for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, but it has now evolved into a key vehicle for SpaceX’s space tourism plans.

SpaceX’s First Commercial Space Tourism Mission – Inspiration4:

• In September 2021, SpaceX completed its first fully commercial space tourism mission, known as Inspiration4. The mission was a groundbreaking moment in the space tourism industry.
• Inspiration4 was entirely civilian—with no professional astronauts on board. The crew consisted of four private citizens who were selected based on different criteria, including a charitable campaign, and trained for a few months prior to launch.
• The crew was led by Jared Isaacman, the founder of Shift4 Payments, and included Hayley Arceneaux, a pediatric cancer survivor who became the youngest American to go to space; Dr. Sian Proctor, a geoscientist and analog astronaut; and Chris Sembroski, a data engineer and space enthusiast.
• The Inspiration4 mission lasted three days, during which the crew orbited Earth at an altitude higher than the ISS before returning to Earth safely, showcasing SpaceX’s capabilities to send civilians to space.

Upcoming Missions and Developments:

• SpaceX is planning several more space tourism missions, including missions that will include trips to the Moon. For example, dearMoon, a project led by Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire, will be the first commercial mission around the Moon, scheduled for the Starship spacecraft, which is under development by SpaceX.
• Starship is a massive spacecraft designed to carry hundreds of passengers and cargo to destinations like the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Although still in testing, Starship represents Musk’s grand vision for space tourism, with trips around the Moon and potentially to Mars as part of its mission.

Ticket Prices and Accessibility:

• SpaceX’s space tourism missions are still expensive, with tickets for future missions expected to cost several hundred thousand dollars for suborbital flights, and potentially millions for orbital or lunar missions.
• However, as technology advances and more flights are conducted, prices could drop, making space tourism more accessible to a broader range of people in the future.

Starship and Long-Term Space Tourism:

• Musk’s vision for Starship goes far beyond just Earth orbit. He envisions interplanetary travel, with Starship capable of carrying large numbers of people on trips to the Moon, Mars, and other destinations in our solar system.
• This vision extends to long-term space tourism, where people could not only visit space but also live and work in space, potentially paving the way for human colonies on other planets.

In summary, SpaceX’s space tourism efforts have brought us closer to the idea of private citizens traveling to space. The company’s accomplishments, such as the Inspiration4 mission and plans for future missions, have made space more accessible and affordable, signaling a shift in the space industry. With Starship on the horizon and more space tourists set to journey into space in the coming years, SpaceX is helping to shape a future where space travel could become as routine as flying to another country.

Summary

Do you wait until the next bull run? Do you start today by booking your choice? Who’s vision most inspires you? Use the comment section below to let us know. In the infographic below you can see 3 choices on how to travel to space.