Space travel hitherto was confined to people who were handpicked for state space missions. But today commercialization of space travel has enabled dreamers with money to fulfill their goals through the offerings from space tourism firms. The growing interest in space travel among adventure tourists are heating up competition within the space tourism market though there are few players in this field so far.
Last quarter of 2008 witnessed, the three companies currently in this field offering space tourism by rolling out their ticket rates and related programs. XCOR Aerospace, based in California, is offering trips for $95,000 in a two-seater Lynx rocket ship which is expected to commence its flight from 2011. The trip will allow the travellers to reach about 37 miles away from the Earth where they can have a look at their home planet and experience weightlessness.
Likewise, Virgin Galactic will provide rides in its eight-seater space vehicle around 62 miles (sub-orbital) away from the Earth for $200,000. According to its official website, its revolutionary carbon composite spacecraft completed its maiden flight successfully on 21 December. Interestingly, they even have agents besides their own offices to organize space travels and bookings. Since they began reservation in 2005 for the likely launch in 2010, Virgin claimed, until now 200 people have evinced interest by paying the stipulated $20,000 in advance.
However, both Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace offer just sub-orbital space flights. But the leading private space travel firm, Space Adventures, another US based company, have been organizing private space flights in collaboration with Russia’s space agency since 2001 are offering both sub-orbital and orbital space flights. They recently posted in their official website that the price for the orbital flight would be between $45mn and $55mn with a unique opportunity to walk in the space, and sub-orbital flight is with a price tag of $102,000.
Though the price for the 10-day scheduled mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has risen from $30 million to $45-55 million, the company claims they have many in the waiting list for their future trips. In October, Richard Garriott, son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, made history by becoming the 1st second-generation astronaut through Space Adventures’ spacecraft.
Business analysts feel that in the coming years, the nascent market is expected to draw more attention from investors, and increased competition is likely to bring down space flight charges. According to environmentalists, the space travels would only be producing as much pollution that is created by any ordinary jets.