Among the companies pioneering suborbital tourism, this company founded in 2004 by Richard Branson developed a spaceplane system known as SpaceShipTwo. Launched from a carrier aircraft, it above the Kármán line—approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) above Earth—before gliding back to a runway landing. A typical mission lasts about ninety minutes from takeoff to landing, and passengers experience roughly four to six minutes of weightlessness while viewing Earth from space before the vehicle descends. The flights depart from the purpose built commercial facility Spaceport America in New Mexico.

Early tickets sold for around $200,000 to $250,000, but later seats reached about $450,000, with future prices expected to approach or exceed $600,000. VG temporarily paused tourism flights in 2024 to focus on developing a new fleet of Delta-class spaceplanes intended to fly more frequently and reduce operating costs, but expects to resume operations later this year.

Read more in my post The State of Space Tourism in 2026.