Space Tourism - Why Not?

Space tourism no longer looks that far. At this point, 573 is the number of people who flied into the space, but projections suggest that it will increase many times over. Over time, it seems more and more realistic that not only the wealthiest will be able to live out what has been reserved for seriously trained astronauts for decades.

However, adventurers will have to wait, as space travel is likely to remain inaccessible to the majority for a long time, as it will be too expensive for anyone outside the richest 1%.

To date, staying at the International Space Station is worth tens of millions of dollars. A group called Space Adventurers offered wealthy people the opportunity to fly to the station aboard Russian-built Soyuz rockets. A total of 7 people have benefited from the proposal so far.

Recently, billionaire and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté paid $35 million to spend two weeks in the space. After NASA announced earlier this year that it would open the US ISS for private astronaut visits, Bigelow Aerospace said it would coordinate the trip for a cost of $52 million per person.

Cheapest are trips with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Company. It plans to offer 90-minute flights in the upper atmosphere at a price of between $ 200-250 thousand (an amount equal to about the average cost of buying a home in the United States).

Virgin Galactic customers will board a 6-seater spacecraft called SpaceShipTwo, which will reach a height of 12 km, suspended under the wing of a carrier ship. At that point, the aircraft will release its carrier connection and activate its engines while passengers "enjoy" traveling up to 80 km above Earth - a boundary that the US government considers to be the start of space.

Virgin...