Defined as the lifting of paying passengers beyond Earth's atmosphere for essentially recreational purposes, commercial space tourism essentially began in 2001 with the trip of a U.S. financial entrepreneur aboard a Russian Soyuz and has since been dominated by companies including Axiom Space, Blue Origin, SpaceX, and (until March 2023) Virgin Galactic.

And for good measure, we're throwing in ground-based space tourism in places like Toulouse, France; Cape Kennedy/Canaveral, Florida; Huntsville, Alabama, even French Guiana.

And we have...lift off!


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The state of space tourism in 2026

Long imagined in science fiction, space tourism became a reality in 2001 when U.S. entrepreneur Dennis Tito paid roughly $20 million for a week-long journey to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Over the following decade, only a small number of people followed in Tito’s footsteps. These trips were typically arranged by the private company Space Adventures in cooperation with the Russian space program. The price of admission remained extraordinarily high: between…

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Started by Max Pesling
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XCOR went Bankrupt in 2017

My story is that I was one of the original travel agents interested in selling the Lynx.  It was difficult.  The price was lower than Virgin Galactic and the idea was novel.  I didn't have clientele interested in that type of extreme adventure.  About a year after the XCOR launch, they released my contract for no sales.  It seemed that they also didn't have a marketing team.  I am sure I have the original brochure somewhere. then again, I might have put it in the recycle bin.  I still have…

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Started by Bye Bye Birdees Consulting
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  • Jeffrey Kunst April 26, 2022 at 9:49am
    Space tourism picking up the pace in 2022 with another milestone, as three billionaire space tourists return this week from a paid NASA ride to/from International Space Station: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/apr/25/international-space...
    Star trek: three rich men return from Nasa’s first foray into space tourism | Nasa | The Guardian
    This was the first time Nasa opened its space hatches to tourists, who paid $55m for a week, which was extended to nearly 17 days
  • Max Pesling February 22, 2022 at 12:15pm
    About a week ago, Virgin Galactic opened general online registration for its first commercial orbital flights, slated to start late this year. Got $450K lying around? Check out the details here: https://www.afar.com/magazine/how-to-book-a-virgin-galactic-space-f...
    You Can Now Book a Ticket to Outer Space
    Virgin Galactic reopened online registration in February 2022 for its first commercial flights beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. Tickets are from $450,0…
  • Susan Schaefer January 22, 2011 at 11:57pm

    space tourism is definitely becoming a reality with RocketShip Tours, Space Adventures, and Virgin Galactic all getting into the game....

  • Myrtis Rimassa at Leisure Quest November 24, 2010 at 3:40am
    I want to be in THIS group!!!! Big Time Trekkie!!!!
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