For the affluent adventurer, space offers a unique allure: exorbitant prices, stringent physical prerequisites, a scarce number of seats, and the compelling “overview effect.” Getting high above the Earth changes how we see everything from our own selfhood to borders, politics, and our interconnectedness.
Space tourism provides an exceptionally rarefied experience for those who have already conquered Everest or explored Antarctica in luxury. While the sector has encountered significant financial and technical challenges, new companies are joining the fray, offering (comparatively) more affordable escapades for those willing to make a substantial investment.
Several Ways to Get There
The market is divided into two segments: orbital and suborbital. The former is considerably more expensive and rare. Only state-owned Roscosmos out of Russia, and Axiom Space and Elon Musk’s SpaceX out of the U.S. have been able to offer those trips, which require vehicles to reach a speed of 17,400 mph and punch out of the Earth’s atmosphere. There have been roughly ten orbital space launches with tourists on board since the early 2000s. Musk’s SpaceX successfully sent astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time in 2020. Then, in 2021, it launched its first tourist flight in collaboration with Axiom Space, with four civilians orbiting the Earth for three days during the Inspiration4 mission, without any professional astronauts on board. Two subsequent missions have taken tourists to the International Space Station. Tickets are in the $50-$70 million range.
In suborbital flight—which requires less power, speed, and money—a vehicle crosses what is known as the Kármán line, a proposed boundary that is roughly 330,000 feet above sea level. The main players have been Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, at prices above $200,000 per ride, but several new providers are poised to enter this space.
According to NSR, a global satellite and space market research firm based in Europe, the suborbital space tourism sector is projected to reach $2 to $2.2 billion by 2033, and the pricier orbital sector is expected to approach nearly $20 billion. While that sounds tremendous, analysts say space tourism is still in a very nascent stage, and the industry continues to encounter challenges.
“I think we’re in a bit of a stall pattern right now,” Dallas Kasaboski, principal analyst at NSR, said, underlining that Virgin Galactic has been around for more than 20 years. It has made 11 crewed missions with tourists. “We’ve made a lot of progress in the last five years,” Kasaboski said, “but there have been a few stalls since.” Blue Origin had six crewed flights since July 2021, but a 2022 malfunction on an unmanned mission caused it to ground operations for nearly two years. Blue Origin finally resumed human flight on May 19.
Branson’s Virgin Galactic has become mired in the ongoing Boeing scandal, suing over shoddy work on its next-generation mothership that carries the space planes on the first part of their journey. And it faces serious financial troubles. However, the company is currently working on a new suborbital plane.
Kasaboski notes that there is a lot of pressure to get these space flights right. “I think we’ve moved past the period of early technological development. We’ve seen two prominent companies [Virgin and SpaceX] flying people to space several times…but there’s a lot of caution and a lot of checks and rechecks that are being done before this market truly takes off,” Kasaboski said. “Public perception of risk is a major challenge, and I think, practically speaking, it may inhibit funding, which then slows these companies down from developing their vehicles.”
Despite these challenges, Kasaboski notes that the industry is in a unique place, as demand is currently significantly outstripping supply. “People are willing to spend several percentages of their yearly worth, or their full net worth, just for this once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he says, noting that NSR estimates suborbital demand at around 200,000 people, and orbital trip demand is likely less than 100 people. As space tourism becomes more accessible, those numbers will likely go up, according to Kasaboski.
Taking a Rocket, Plane, or Balloon to Space
There are currently a few ways to get to (or at least close to) space as a tourist: via orbital and suborbital rocket (SpaceX and Blue Origin, respectively), or suborbital plane (Virgin Galactic). Now, a slew of companies like Space Perspective, Halo Space, and WorldView are aiming to use high-altitude balloons to gently lift tourists to suborbital heights, 100,000 feet above the Earth.
Roman Chiporukha is the co-founder of SpaceVIP, a bespoke tour operator that recently announced plans to host a Michelin-star dinner aboard Space Perspective’s Spaceship Neptune for $495,000 per person. Chiporukha says that a few years ago, he was approached by a space company (which he declined to name) to help promote the first private mission to the International Space Station in 2022. Chiporukha placed one of the tourists on that trip and has since built a successful space travel business that works alongside wealthy tourists looking to the stars for their next adventure.
Roman & Erica, Inc., the lifestyle management company he and his wife run, already had a reputation for working closely with well-heeled consumers looking for unique experiences, like coordinating exclusive access to Paris Fashion Week with the Alexander McQueen team.
Chiporukha notes that space travel on suborbital balloons can be similar to flying on an airplane. However, there are many physical and financial hoops to jump through if you want to get on the next rocket into orbit. “First, you need to show your serious intent to go to space, and that’s typically done financially,” Chiporukha said. “There are some hard costs to do a proper medical [evaluation] and training. All of those things cost tens of thousands of dollars to do in a proper setting. If you are not qualified, you don’t get that money back.” Chiporukha notes that companies will financially vet travelers to ensure that they have the liquid assets required to pay for their space flight.
As NSR analyst Kasaboski points out, even if you do invest in an orbital trip, there’s no guarantee that you’ll actually go. “There are people who bought tickets over a decade ago, who are finally getting a chance to fly now. So expect that kind of window,” he said.
Suborbital trips, like those that Virgin Galactic and Space Perspective offer, require far less physical preparation and cost less. Balloon trips are especially easy, according to Jane Poynter. The Space Perspective founder and co-CEO got her start in otherworldly adventure as part of the team that lived and worked from 1991 to 1993 in Biosphere 2, a hermetically sealed environment in the Arizona desert.
Poynter says that as long as you are physically fit enough to travel in an airplane, you can travel in their capsule, which hangs below a space balloon. That is, if you can afford the $125,000 per-person ticket. That gets you a six-hour excursion—two hours each for lift-off and landing—and two hours hovering above the Earth.
Roman & Erica, Inc., the lifestyle management company he and his wife run, already had a reputation for working closely with well-heeled consumers looking for unique experiences, like coordinating exclusive access to Paris Fashion Week with the Alexander McQueen team.
Chiporukha notes that space travel on suborbital balloons can be similar to flying on an airplane. However, there are many physical and financial hoops to jump through if you want to get on the next rocket into orbit. “First, you need to show your serious intent to go to space, and that’s typically done financially,” Chiporukha said. “There are some hard costs to do a proper medical [evaluation] and training. All of those things cost tens of thousands of dollars to do in a proper setting. If you are not qualified, you don’t get that money back.” Chiporukha notes that companies will financially vet travelers to ensure that they have the liquid assets required to pay for their space flight.
As NSR analyst Kasaboski points out, even if you do invest in an orbital trip, there’s no guarantee that you’ll actually go. “There are people who bought tickets over a decade ago, who are finally getting a chance to fly now. So expect that kind of window,” he said.
Suborbital trips, like those that Virgin Galactic and Space Perspective offer, require far less physical preparation and cost less. Balloon trips are especially easy, according to Jane Poynter. The Space Perspective founder and co-CEO got her start in otherworldly adventure as part of the team that lived and worked from 1991 to 1993 in Biosphere 2, a hermetically sealed environment in the Arizona desert.
Poynter says that as long as you are physically fit enough to travel in an airplane, you can travel in their capsule, which hangs below a space balloon. That is, if you can afford the $125,000 per-person ticket. That gets you a six-hour excursion—two hours each for lift-off and landing—and two hours hovering above the Earth.
The balloons launch from boats off the coast of Florida and splash down again in the ocean upon return. The technology is the same that NASA has used for decades to launch research equipment, such as telescopes (though not astronauts), according to Poynter, who says it is a much gentler way to get the overview effect. The balloons are filled with hydrogen to lift off passengers, But the company rejects comparison to the Hindenburg. Hydrogen is the gas of choice for balloonists around the world, it says, explaining that the balloon is designed to keep the flammable gas from mixing with oxygen in the ambient air. Space Perspective is also aiming to be carbon neutral—thanks to using balloons instead of fuel-burning rockets, and through other measures, such as carbon offsets.
Space Perspective plans to take people up in a comfortable pressurized capsule, designed to provide 360-degree views through huge windows. Passengers will not experience weightlessness, however.
The trip, Poynter promises, should be breathtaking. “As the sun starts coming up, it creates these wild rainbows on a planetary scale that are just crazy,” she says, “and then eventually, you’ll have the sun in that classic black sky, and you will see that iridescent thin blue line of our atmosphere, the curved horizon that astronauts talk about.”
The gentle ride and long duration of the trip allow for plenty of luxury experiences, too, like the one that Chiporukha and his partners are putting together. In addition to that Michelin-Star dinner, there’s discussion of bringing musicians, celebrities, and more to drum up more demand for the exceedingly expensive escapades.
Poynter says she anticipates Space Perspective flights to begin sometime in 2025, pending clearance from the FAA and the Office of Commercial Transportation. The company plans around 50 flights in its first year, and double that in the second. As of May, Space Perspective said it had booked nearly 1,800 seats.
The reality, however, as Kasaboski points out, is much more nuanced. “Theoretically, the [balloon] technology should be easier to develop and launch more often at a cheaper price than rockets or rocket planes, however, a number of factors have held this market back,” he says.
Balloon technology can be easier to deploy because the hydrogen used to lift the balloons to space is more affordable than rocket fuel, but it is far more limited thanks to short supply around the world. There are also intellectual property litigation issues, he adds. “In short, the technology is interesting and should take off, but the market remains underdeveloped, under-invested, and slower to develop than other forms of space tourism,” says Kasaboski.
That Overview Effect
The space tourism business has passed the initial hurdle of demonstrating that these trips are possible, says Kasaboski, but it’s far from fully established. “With this market, it’s more that we know there’s demand and people are lining up to buy tickets,” he says, “but the flights are not ready yet.”
Though there’s been plenty of criticism about billionaires going to space rather than solving hunger or homelessness right here on Earth, those working in the space tourism industry claim that it can benefit society. They underline that many of our modern comforts and tools have come as a direct result of space exploration—everything from the GPS in your car to the exercise bike in your bedroom.
Providers also defend the intangible benefits of the overview effect. “It is our job to give them the most extraordinary experience,” Poynter said. “We anticipate that some fairly large percentage of those people will be deeply moved and come back and do something extraordinary with that experience.”
