How much does it cost to become a space tourist?

Commercial space travel is becoming increasingly feasible thanks to companies such as SpaceX and Boeing developing alternatives to Virgin Galactic's space program. The race for the first mass manifestation of space tourism is heating up, and the number of people officially 'leaving' Earth seems to be growing every week. William Shatner, known for his role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek, became an astronaut at age 90 to fly into space on Amazon's Blue Origin spacecraft.

In the future, the ability to see Earth from space could become much more affordable, and the cost of space travel could gradually fall as the technology becomes more efficient. Among the companies claiming leadership in the nascent space tourism industry, Virgin Galactic is perhaps the most prolific. The company, founded by famed billionaire Richard Branson, reopened ticket sales for its space flights in August, setting prices at $450,000 per seat. 

But the commercialization of space travel will continue. For the past decade, NASA has been working with other companies such as SpaceX and Boeing in hopes of boosting the space tourism industry. Over the past 60 years of human spaceflight NASA has accumulated a wealth of knowledge that will play an important role in launching new projects.

The space agency hopes to be able to decommission the International Space Station in the future and instead rely on space stations built and maintained by private companies like Starlab or Orbital Reef. They could include more advanced designs and allow NASA to essentially outsource much of the expensive maintenance.

Despite optimism about the potential availability of space tourism in the future, it is currently not that close. Virgin Galactic has been forced to announce to push back the timing of commercial flight services to the end of 2022. The announcement also says that a test flight planned for later this year will also be delayed.

Source: as.com

Illustration: @virgingalactic