Traveling to space for fun, rather than for work or science related activities, is becoming reality faster than we think. Now, instead of astronauts, regular people are going into outer space to experience the thrill of zero gravity or weightlessness and breathtaking views of earth from up above.
There are two main types of tourism trips into outer space. The first is suborbital flights. They fly passengers about 62 miles up just to the outer layers of earth’s atmosphere where the passengers can experience a simulation on what it is like to be in zero gravity for a few minutes before returning back to earth. Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are companies that currently offer these trips. The second type of trip to outer space is called Orbital flights, which are very similar to suborbital flights except for the orbital flights they actually do leave earth’s atmosphere and go into outer space. The orbital flights are a lot more advanced and send passengers into space, circling earth for hours or even days. SpaceX is the company that currently offers this and they are working on making it longer for passengers to enjoy it.
Space tourism is very expensive with ticket prices often exceeding $250,000 per trip. However experts believe that some time in the near future these prices will go down because technology is only going to improve and rockets will become “more reusable”. Eventually maybe even trips to the moon or Mars will become possible.
While this may sound like a good idea and is fun for the people enjoying it, there are some issues as well. Rocket launches release greenhouse gas and other pollution into the atmosphere which could hurt the environment if space tourism does grow. Another issue would be the price as some people question the fairness of it because only people with a lot of wealth can afford to go.
Overall, space tourism is an exciting new activity. However the balancing of the benefits with the other challenges will be key to the future of space tourism.
