Book A Ticket To Space!
Do you have $250,000 burning a hole in your pocket? Book a ticket to space!
Currently there are three entrepreneurs staking claim in the space tourism industry: Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk.
Richard Branson, the British billionaire that founded Virgin Records, has been steadily building his new enterprise, Virgin Galactic since 2004. He has recently stated that he plans on launching his first passenger filled flight into space on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, July 20th, 2019.
To be clear, the border into space from sea level is 100 kilometers from sea level or 63 miles.
Here is a video from a test flight that was conducted in December 2018 https://twitter.com/richardbranson/status/1073507889870974976
Currently, Branson has sold over six hundred tickets for future flights at $250,000 a pop. However, ticket buyers have yet to been notified of the specified date of travel. They will also have to get in line behind the company’s own employees, whol be the first passengers (though they have yet to be selected yet). A handful of notable celebrities have also claimed a ticket such as Justin Bieber, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Katy Perry, and others.
Jeff Bezo’s company Blue Origin closely follows behind Branson. The company’s mission is to create a livable environment in space where millions of people can live and work in order to lessen our impact on Earth’s resources. They claim the first steps are “reusable launch vehicles” that can help to eventually lower the price as the tickets are currently projected to range between $200,000 and $300,000.
Blue Origin has completed eight successful test launches of the New Shepard, a launch vehicle that includes a passenger capsule with 6 reclining seats and giant windows for optimal viewing pleasure. The vessel is said to launch into space, allowing the passengers to experience weightlessness for a couple minutes before parachutes are released to safely drift back down to earth.
Elon Musk is also planning on launching people into space, however his company’s main operation has its sights set on Mars. He founded SpaceX in 2002 and fully plans on colonizing Mars due to concerns of Earth’s sustainability. Musk has speculated that his his first passenger-filled launch to Mars will take place in 2024, aboard the Big Falcon Rocket. The vessel is said to hold 100 passengers and 150 tons of cargo.
Prior to the Mars launch, the company is also focused on sending passengers on trips around the moon. The Big Falcon Rocket already has its first booked passenger, the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. Maezawa has purchased every seat aboard the BFR and intends on taking 6 artists along. Being an art collector, he hopes that the experience will have positive impacts on their artwork. Other than that, you are welcome to get in line for the second trip around the moon.
