Exploring the Journey of Space Tourism: Past, Present, and Future

In 1964, Austrian journalist Gerhard Pistor expressed interest in booking a lunar trip, prompting his travel agency to reach out to Pan American World Airways—Pan Am. This now-defunct airline accepted his booking and predicted that the inaugural flights to the moon would launch in 2000. Thus commenced a lengthy marketing campaign for space tourism, during which about 93,000 individuals joined Pan Am's First Moon Flights Club, a waiting list for future civilian moon voyages.

However, that dream never materialized. Yet, as the Space Age progressed, so did the concept of space tourism. In 2001, American entrepreneur Dennis Tito marked the milestone of being the first genuine space tourist, launching on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and spending over a week at the International Space Station (ISS)—reportedly for a staggering $20 million.

Today, we are witnessing a new chapter in space tourism, with an increasing number of civilians making brief excursions beyond Earth through private companies dedicated to this vision. In the coming decades, we might even witness the emergence of regular long-term space vacations.

The Genesis of Space Tourism

Following the Apollo era, various companies explored the potential of sending civilians into space instead of just government professionals like NASA astronauts. In the 1970s, Rockwell International, a major contractor for NASA’s Space Shuttle program, investigated the feasibility of passenger modules that could be integrated into the Space Shuttle's payload bay. Other companies pursued similar ideas in the years that followed, but none were realized.

NASA did allow nongovernmental professionals to participate in spaceflights, mainly as payload specialists assigned to carry out specific projects for external companies. Additionally, NASA initiated the Teacher in Space and Journalist in Space programs to annually include a few civilians in space missions. However, these initiatives were halted after the tragic Challenger disaster in 1986, which claimed the life of Christa McAuliffe, the first Teacher in Space, along with her six crew members. Although there were considerations for reviving the program, it was ultimately canceled following the fatal Columbia disaster in 2003.

Space tourism achieved a significant milestone in 2001 when Dennis Tito launched to the ISS. This trip was arranged by Space Adventures, which facilitated eight other space tourists traveling to the ISS until 2009, all aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft. However, these tourist flights came to an end with the retirement of NASA’s Space Shuttle program in 2011. At that time, the only spacecraft available for human spaceflight was the Soyuz, and every available seat was reserved for professional astronauts worldwide, sidelining tourism.

The Current State of Space Tourism

In the last decade, private space tourism companies have been working on spacecraft designed to take passengers on suborbital flights, allowing them to reach the edge of space before returning to Earth in relatively brief trips lasting from a few minutes to several hours. In contrast, the first nine clients of Space Adventures embarked on orbital missions that circled the Earth for days at a time.

Different companies employ various flight methods. For example, Blue Origin conducts vertical launches like most rockets, while Virgin Galactic operates a rocket-powered spaceplane that is launched from beneath a carrier aircraft. Currently, these two companies are the only suborbital firms authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for launches and have successfully taken passengers to space. Other companies are gearing up for their own launches, including space-balloon ventures like Space Perspective and World View, which offer a much more leisurely experience by gently elevating passengers to high altitudes in a sophisticated hot air balloon. Prices for suborbital flights across all companies range from about $50,000 to $450,000 per seat.

Orbital tourism has also made a resurgence, but at significantly higher prices, costing tens of millions of dollars per seat. SpaceX, which has a contract with NASA to send astronauts to the ISS, is also available for private charters. In 2021, entrepreneur Jared Isaacman organized the Inspiration4 mission, marking the world’s first all-civilian spaceflight, where he and three crewmates orbited the Earth in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The following year, SpaceX facilitated the launch of Axiom mission 1 (Ax-1), the first all-civilian mission to the ISS, where four crew members spent eight days aboard the orbiting research facility.

Space Adventures has resumed its operations as well, organizing a flight to the ISS for Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, who ventured into space in December 2021. Maezawa plans to charter SpaceX’s upcoming Starship spacecraft for a moon mission known as the dearMoon project, taking eight civilians along for the ride.

Future Prospects for Space Tourism

Space tourism is still in its early stages, with much work ahead. Current suborbital companies are refining their launch vehicles and increasing the frequency of launches to achieve a more regular schedule, while new companies are awaiting FAA approval to commence operations. There is hope that space tourism companies will also find ways to lower flight costs in the future.

Many companies are already looking ahead to the future of space tourism, particularly in low-Earth orbit (LEO). NASA is also investing in this future through its Commercial LEO Development Program, which funds the creation of private space stations. As NASA and its global partners plan to retire the ISS within the next decade, the agency aims to lease facilities from these private stations to accommodate not just its professional astronauts but also commercial visitors.

Four initiatives have received backing from NASA’s Commercial LEO Development Program, including Axiom Space, the organization behind the Ax-1 mission. Axiom has collaborated with innovative interior designer Philippe Starck to design its Axiom Station. Another project receiving funding, Starlab by Voyager Space and its subsidiary Nanoracks, has teamed up with Hilton to create astronaut living quarters.

Three out of the four companies expect to launch their space stations by the decade's end, but delays are common in space programs. (For example, NASA’s Artemis initiative aimed to land humans on the moon in 2024, but that timeline has now shifted to at least 2025.) Nevertheless, the future of space tourism looks promising and certainly attainable—patience is all that’s needed. For those travelers who have long dreamed of reaching the stars, the wait will be worthwhile.