The future of travel is in the stars and it’s closer than ever to becoming a reality.
It seems like each month now, on a consistent basis, new companies are announcing intentions and, in some cases, plans to take travelers beyond our atmosphere into space, a place, as of now, less than 600 people have ever been to.
Some of the big name companies have yet to disclose details about pricing, availability, and how to book, including Blue Origin, the company founded by Jeff Bezos that famously took actor William Shatner to space last fall, and SpaceX, the company founded by Elon Musk that is currently selling space on smaller rockets that aren’t meant for space tourists.
Blue Origin, according to the NY Times, is currently selling seats privately but has yet to reveal the cost. One passenger on a 2021 journey bought a seat at auction for $28 million for an 11-minute sub-orbital flight. SpaceX, on the other hand, has sold some seats to the International Space Station at $55 million each through Axiom Space.
There’s others, too, including Space Adventures, a space tourism company that was founded in 2008, which offers placement on spacecraft already scheduled to launch and on some fully-private missions.
All those companies and more are trying to be the biggest player in what could be the next big thing in travel—according to Bank of America, the industry, in its entirety, could be worth as much as $3 trillion over the next three decades.
Here’s how you can book to travel to space, or get as close to the astronaut experience as possible, right now:
1. Space Perspective
2. Virgin Galactic
3. Zero-G Experience
1. Space Perspective
Space Perspective brands itself as a “spaceship like no other” and the first carbon-neutral way to travel to space. What gives it that kind of tag is a trip with no rockets and no g-force, instead a gentle, slow ascend from earth in a luxury space capsule via a SpaceBalloon that, when fully inflated, is large enough to house the Statue of Liberty.
The Experience
Think a slow moving (about 12 mph) luxury lounge, cocktails and WiFi and all, that takes off from earth, providing 360-degree panoramic views of the world around, and then beneath, you. The capsule, which only holds eight guests plus a pilot, offers reclining seats that can be reconfigured to however guests want, along with a restroom, telescopes, interactive screens, and customizable mood lightning. The interior is designed to both be luxurious, and reduce glare.
The whole roundtrip journey lasts six-hours—two hours up, lifted by that SpaceBalloon, to 100,000 feet above sea level, above 99% of Earth’s atmosphere, and then two hours at the Apogee, before another two hour, slow-moving descent.
The balloon will guide the capsule down to a gentle ocean splashdown off Florida’s gulf coast. The ship will then be lifted from the sea and placed on a ship’s deck, where passengers will be able to disembark and celebrate their trip en route back to Kennedy Space Center.
The team at Space Perspective call the experience a “bespoke” and “luxury” space flight that is customizable based on your preferences—bookings can be made for the entire capsule or just a seat or two and the onboard experience can be set up how you want it ahead of time.
Who is the team behind it?
Space Perspective is led by Jane Poynter, Founder, Co-CEO and Chief Experience Officer of Space Perspective. Poynter is the co-founder and former CEO of World View Enterprises, a private near-space exploration and technology company headquartered in Tucson, Arizona.
Poynter was also one of eight people who lived in the Biosphere 2.
Where and when does it launch from?
Space Perspective’s debut, currently set for 2024, is planned to take off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
How much does it cost?
Right now, to get onboard a Space Perspective flight, guests will have to pay $125,000 per ticket with a $1,000 refundable deposit. Space Perspective is also accepting payment via crypto, which is says is a first for the space flight industry.
The first year of flights have already been completely reserved. However, flights for 2025 and beyond are open for booking with just that $1,000 deposit.
How high do you travel?
Space Perspective balloons reach a maximum altitude of 30 kilometers, or 100,000 feet, above sea level, an altitude it calls “the edge of space.”
For full details and bookings, head to the Space Perspective website.
2. Virgin Galactic
Boasting itself as the first ever American spaceflight company, Virgin Galactic expects to start a full schedule of commercial spaceflights (three launches per month) next year.
The Experience
Virgin’s experience, compared to Space Perspective, is closer to the Hollywood idea of space travel. Each flight allows up to six passengers to travel on a 90 minute spaceflight, reaching a max speed of 2,600 miles per hour. Passengers, unlike Space Perspective, will also experience weightlessness in micro-gravity during the journey.
The flight starts from a runway with the spaceship attached to a mothership. From there, the spaceship climbs to reach 50,000 feet, a point when the spaceship is released from the mothership, followed by the activation of a rocket motor, that will send the ship up towards the stars, reaching speeds of up to three and a half times the speed of sound.
About a minute later, the pilots shut down the rocket motor and the capsule heads towards space, eventually reaching the apogee and providing zero-gravity to its guests, who can gaze outside through 17 different viewing windows.
From there, the ship prepares for reentry through what Virgin is calling the “system’s greatest innovation – feather technology.” According to Virgin, the ship’s wings move upwards and the spaceship folds itself in half, with the ship doing a backflip “that points the windows straight back toward Earth, offering our astronauts astounding and unobstructed views.”
The ship will then head back towards earth, landing on the same runway that it took off from, where guests will be greeted.
Who is the team behind it?
Virgin Galactic was founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, who already has a heavy presence in travel through Virgin Hotels, Virgin Voyages, and more.
With Branson comes celebrity-affiliations—an unofficial, and long-rumored, passenger list includes celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and more. Some passengers have been waiting more than 15 years to take their flights.
Where and when does it launch from?
Virgin Galactic departs and lands from the Spaceport America complex in New Mexico. Flights are already underway, with Richard Branson himself flying on the company’s fourth flight in summer 2021, but its commercial flights aren’t expected to start until 2023.
How much does it cost?
Tickets cost $450,000 (the price was boosted last year) with a $150,000 deposit required to hold the spot. The ticket includes the flight, training, and a custom spacesuit.
According to the company’s latest earnings call, it has at least 800 customers signed up and expects to reach the 1,000 customer mark before service officially beings next year.
How high do you travel?
Previous Virgin Galactic flights have reached an altitude of 80 kilometers or about 262,000 feet above sea level.
For more on Virgin Galactic, go here.
3. Zero-G Experience
The least expensive of the three options on the list, Zero-G will not get you anywhere close to space (you’d be able to get higher on some commercial flights). What it will get you is an experience that will make you feel like an astronaut, and one that you can’t get anywhere else.
The Experience
You won’t get to space, but you’ll get to feel like an astronaut. The Zero-G Experience invites passengers into a modified Boeing 727 that flies in parabolic arcs in order to create a weightless environment, giving you the same feeling that astronauts get in space.
It is not a simulation—Zero-G is very clear about that. Passengers will get the feeling of weightlessness as the pilots fly parabolas starting at 24,000 feet, ascending at 45 degrees until 32,000 feet. The pilot then pushes the plane over the top of the parabolic arc and passengers get 20-30 seconds of weightlessness, before pulling out of the maneuver and slowly sending passengers back to their seats.
That process is repeated 15 times per flight.
Who is the team behind it?
Greek-American entrepreneur Peter Diamandis founded the company with Byron Lichtenberg and Ray Cronis in 1994. Diamandis is also an advisor for Space Adventurers, Ltd.
How far do you travel?
Flights on Zero-G reach an altitude of 32,000 feet.
How much does it cost?
The Zero-G Experience starts at $8200 + 5% tax and fees per person.
For more, go to the Zero-G website.
