Some companies are already taking bookings for leisure trips into space. In 2001, the American millionaire Dennis Tito was the first “tourist” in space, flying into orbit in a Russian Sow: rocket. Other firms have already spent millions on designing hotels and condominiums on the Moon! As the price of traveling into space lessens, more and more people will make plans to go on the ultimate holiday in orbit.
Space tourism has experienced many false dawns. Companies have come and gone that have offered everything from trips to the Moon to a new home on Mars. But after broken promise after broken promise, things might be about to change.
Seven people have paid to go to space before, with American multimillionaire Dennis Tito becoming the first space tourist in 2001, flying to the International Space Station (ISS) on a Soyuz capsule to the tune of $20 million. Six more space tourists would follow in his footsteps, but despite hopes otherwise, little else followed. No space tourist has flown since 2009.
This year, however, we are expecting several private companies in the US to start taking humans to space, most for the first time. And, if all goes to plan, this could be a vital step towards making space more accessible – where paid trips and privately funded astronauts become the norm. “2019 does feel like the year that’s going to be the culmination of two decades of development work that have gone into space tourism,” says industry analyst Caleb Williams from consulting firm SpaceWorks. “And if we’re lucky, we’ll see the birth of an entirely new industry.”
One of those companies is Virgin Galactic, who on 13 December 2018 conducted their first trip to near-space. Two pilots, Mark Stucky and Frederick Sturckow, took Virgin’s spaceplane VSS Unity to an altitude of 82.7 kilometres (51.4 miles). This year, the company plans to conduct more test flights, with the possibility of taking its first passengers – founder Richard Branson being first of all – to space.
“We hope now to get into a regular cadence of space flights which will be historically unprecedented,” says Stephen Attenborough, commercial director at Virgin Galactic. “[2019] promises to be a turning point after many years of dedication, patience and hard work.”