Space flights have long ceased to be the sole business of NASA and other countries. Today private companies also prepare missions and trips to space in search of future space tourism for all those who can afford it.
Technological advances carried out by private companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX or Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic are paving the space path for all those who are not professional astronauts. Some lucky civilians have already had the opportunity to fly into space. Among them is Richard Branson, the first person to travel to space in a private flight, and the four components of the historic Inspiration 4 mission of the American company SpaceX, which spent three days circling the Earth.
Fly into space with Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson was getting closer to his goal of facilitating space tourism on July 11, 2021, when he took a private trip in his own ship named Unity to the doorstep of space. That same day the businessman got ahead in the battle he had with another millionaire: Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon. That same week the space company Virgin Galactic announced that tickets to travel aboard Space Ship Two would soon be on sale. And today that announcement has materialized.
The reality is that traveling to space with Virgin Galactic is not suitable for all pockets, as you may have already imagined. The tickets have a cost of 450,000 dollars , about 396,000 euros each and the company has just launched its sale to the public. There is still no official date for the trip, but the possibility of reserving a seat for the near future has already been enabled, which could take place at the end of 2022. A very ambitious plan that includes the objective of making three monthly flights during the next year .
Virgin Galactic’s goal is to reach 1,000 space tourists and the price includes cosmotourist training, as well as a seat on the suborbital space plane, whose journey takes approximately 90 minutes. Passengers will also be able to float in the cabin in zero gravity for a few minutes.
Does Virgin Galactic really fly into space?
This is one of the biggest criticisms that Virgin Galactic received in its first commercial launch in July 2021. It had not reached space as such, in fact, experts say it was on the edge of what is considered space. Days later, Blue Origin did get to that point. A few weeks later, SpaceX surpassed the Karman line by 100 kilometers, that point at which they are considered to have already transcended the domains of Earth.
Tourism in space with SpaceX
For its part, Elon Musk’s company made history with the successful launch of its Dragon capsule on September 15, 2021. The historic Inspiration 4 mission put four civilians into space for the first time. A mission made up entirely of civilians that sought to make “space more accessible to all who wish to go,” as Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, expressed after the space milestone.
Three days circling the Earth from an unusually high orbit: 160 kilometers above the International Space Station and one 575 kilometers above Earth. Without a doubt, a milestone in the space tourism career. Even NASA, initially skeptical of this type of travel, celebrated the expedition through Twitter.
Regarding the prices of future trips to space by SpaceX, the cost far exceeds that offered by Virgin Galactic. The company founded by Elon Musk holds the record at $55 million for a 10-day orbital spaceflight. While it is true that SpaceX offers a complete adventure of more than a week. Eight of those ten days will be devoted to crews experiencing how astronauts live on the International Space Station. A flight of three passengers together with a trained commander in the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
What is clear is that the rivalry and competitiveness of both companies will lead us to see in the not too distant future a new way of traveling that, for now, is only available to the richest.