Space Tourism

Space tourism could be the next big thing. The prospect of safe and affordable travel into space is one that excites many people. People have always desired to visit exotic locations, and what could be more exotic than a whole other planet or looking back down onto the Earth.

Space Tourism is the term that's come to be used to mean ordinary members of the public buying tickets to travel to space and back. Many people find this idea futuristic. But over the past few years a growing volume of professional work has been done on the subject, and it's now clear that setting up commercial space tourism services is a realistic target for business today.

One main problem about Space Tourism is that it is too expensive to get there. Mainly due to launch vehicles being expendable. Currently, the only vehicles that can take you into space are the space shuttle and the Russian Soyuz, both of which are terribly inefficient. Each spacecraft requires millions of pounds of propellant to take off into space, which makes them expensive to launch. One pound of payload costs about $10,000 to put into Earth orbit.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/space-tourism3.htm

A number of companies are now working diligently on their aircraft so that they can send space tourists into low earth orbit within the next year or two. Richard Branson has confirmed that his company will commence with space tourism. You can see a clip of Richard Branson talking about his new launch with Virgin Galactic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6HjHNdWQBg&feature=player_embedded

Therefore once it does become a commercial service the next question is how to afford a ticket. The price for a seat with Virgin Galatic are seen below:

Pioneer Astronaut – The Earliest Available Seat

Deposit - US$200k full payment up front 


Our most popular reservation and nearly sold out 


Join the community of over 500 future astronauts 


Secure one of the last remaining seats among the first 500 to fly 


Expect to be among the first 1000 humans to have travelled to space 


Priority access to Galactic events, milestones and trips 


Pioneer welcome and confirmation package 


Guarantee the price of $200k for your spaceflight

Voyager Astronaut – Join the Waiting List for a Later Seat

Deposit - $20k 
Join the community of over 500 future astronauts 


Secure a spot on the waiting list after the first 500 to fly 


Take part in the Galactic milestones, events and trips 


Voyager welcome and confirmation package 


Guarantee the price of $200k for your spaceflight

Spaceship Charter

$1 million
An exclusive spaceflight for you and up to 5 friends


Pioneer status for all 6 seats


6 seats for the price of 5

Where will people stay once in space? The Hilton Hotels has shown interest in the space tourism industry and the possibility of building or co-funding a space hotel. However, the company did say that it believes such a space hotel is 15 to 20 years away.

Therefore within the next 20 years, space planes could be taking off for another planet or the Moon, at the same frequency as airplanes flying on Earth.