The age of private space tourism has finally dawned: interested parties have been able to buy tickets from Virgin Galactic since Wednesday. Billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are also active in the field. However, their offers and prices differ.
The 90-minute trip to the edge of space with Virgin Galactic is said to cost less than half a million dollars.
Strictly speaking, it’s not outer space at all: Virgin Galactic only wants to take its customers 85 kilometers up. The so-called Kármán Line, 100 kilometers above the earth’s surface, marks the boundary between aeronautics and space travel.
Since Wednesday, potential customers of Richard Branson’s company can book a ticket for a 90-minute trip. The short excursion into gravity is said to cost $450,000. The spacecraft takes off from Spaceport America in the American state of New Mexico. Included in the price are several days of preparation program and accommodation. This gave the company in a media release known on Tuesday.
On the website from Virgin Galactic, interests can apply for a place. If accepted, they must pay $150,000 in advance. You can transfer the remaining amount shortly before departure.
Blue Origin: So far, the flight still costs millions
British billionaire Richard Branson is not alone in the field of space tourism. Tesla founder Elon Musk also founded SpaceX, a company that is intended to take private individuals into space. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has already flown into space in a rocket operated by his company Blue Origin.
Unlike Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin’s spacecraft flies at an altitude of 107 kilometers, providing the opportunity for actual space travel. Tickets for the first test flight in July 2021 have been auctioned. The prices are not known, the highest bid by an unknown millionaire is said to have been 28 million.
A flight with Jeff Bezos’ spaceship Blue Origin still costs several million. That should change.
So far, interested parties cannot buy tickets for Blue Origin outside of exclusive auctions. One Reuters news agency estimate from 2018 estimates that tickets will cost between $200,000 and $300,000 once they go on sale.
Elon Musk offers the most expensive space flight
Anyone who wants to take an actual space journey has to fly with Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. For 55 million each, three men fly to the International Space Station. The “Falcon” rocket is scheduled to take off at the end of March. The journey to the space station, about 400 kilometers away, takes four days in total, and a stay of several days on the ISS is included in the price.
So far, space tourism is still a playground for the super-rich. It will be like this most likely to remain so for decades to come, since it will be difficult to launch a large number of people into space at the same time. But maybe the competition between the three billionaires will stimulate business and lower prices in the future.