Commercial Space Flights

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What Is Space Tourism?

Commercial space flight, commonly known as Space Tourism, is the recreational travel of humans to Space, either orbital, lunar Space, or suborbital. It could also be categorized as an aviation industry niche seeking to give people the ability to be astronauts in the vane of experiencing space travel for either business, leisure, or recreational purposes. Unfortunately, given the cost of space tourism, it is often left to the only few people who can afford it. Primarily these flights are short durational flights around the earth’s orbit, atmospheric zero-gravity flights, and others by high altitude jet fighter flights.

The History of Space Tourism

Humans have been exploring Space since the launch of the first satellite to orbit the earth by the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (U.S.S.R) in the year 1957, according to National Geographic (2020). However, there have been more developments; in 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person to visit Space. Since then, other people of not more than 600 have visited Space, from astronauts to civilians who are just in for fun. A year later, Alan Shepard, an American Astronaut, became the first American in Space. With the U.S and the Soviet Union space programs, Mercury and Apollo were both fighting for a chance to send people to Space; within 12 years, till 1969, 50 men had been to Space.

In 1972, there was a proposition to develop a Space Shuttle by the then U.S president Richard Nixon, intended to carry 74 passengers and construction payloads for the Space Station. Still, it was never actualized, as noted by Space Tourism Guide (2020). The 1970s saw the birth of space tourism, and from the 1980s to 2011, there had been 135 space missions launched, with 355 people having gone to Space. However, the 1980s were marred with disasters, including the Challenger crew of 1986, and not until the 1990s; space tourism sparked with the rise of companies such as Space Adventures Ltd, Bigelow Aerospace, and XCOR Aerospace, who are working to establish space stations for tourists (Space Tourism Guide, 2020).

Are there Commercial Flights to Space and How Much Do They Cost?

If you are looking for evidence of actual commercial flight experience; here is a list as charted by Erik Seedhouse of Britannica (2020):

1. In 2001, Dennis Tito, a wealthy American citizen, purchased his ticket as a private citizen to visit Space for $20 million through a Russian Commercial spaceflight company, MirCorp. He worked with Space Adventures to transfer the funds to the International Space Station, and thus he began his 7-day adventure.
2. Dennis Tito was followed by Mark Shuttleworth, a South African computer millionaire in the year 2002.
3. Three years later, Gregory Olsen, an American Businessman, also visited the International Space Station in 2005.
4. He was followed by Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American Entrepreneur who became the first female space tourist in September 2006.
5. Charles Simonyi, an American billionaire, visited the ISS and made a second flight in 2009.
6. Richard Garriott followed him in 2008 to become the 7^th space tourist.
7. Since then, only Guly Laliberte visited the ISS in 2009 with more flights scheduled for this year, 2021, with Space Adventures offering flights around the moon for $100 million.

Top Space Tourism Companies

If you are into commercial space flights, here are the top companies to look into, as described by Revfine (2021):

1. Virgin Galactic: For Suborbital Flights Charging an initial deposit of £200,000 for booking
2. SpaceX: Their pricing is not yet out, but the company is even planning on extending its flights past the earth’s orbit.
3. Blue Origin: Still not up for ticket sale, but the company is majoring in Suborbital flights rivaling Virgin Galactic.
4. Orion Span (Space Hotel): With plans to establish an Aura Space Station under provisional, the U.S company is up for booking at £7 million and plans to take off in 2022.
5. Boeing: After signing a deal with NASA, its Commercial Crew Development Program is selling tickets hoping that at least one person will accompany NASA astronauts in every future mission.

Fears, Worries, Risks of Space Tourism.

Here are some of the things that might just put you off with the Space Tourism enthusiasm, according to BBC UK (2021):

1. It is currently a rich man’s game: You’ll be parting with a mega draw lottery to be in Space.
2. It is dangerous; they are prone to micrometeorite accidents.
3. There are greater chances of exposure to solar flares and radiations, especially ionizing radiations.
4. Impact damages by space debris are much more common.

Some potential risks and worries include:

• Isolation may affect your psychological health.
• Time delays in making phone calls back home during emergencies.
• Fears of microgravity eating away one’s bones and muscles
• Currently, space explorations may be one-way trips
• There is no efficient technology at the moment.

References

National Geographic (2020). The History of Space Exploration. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/history-space-exploration/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjs4ZPo1LfvAhUPUcAKHf4SB6kQFnoECA4QAg&usg=AOvVaw00Kwr0u6Gb9nXn6bIU96ej

Space Tourism Guide (2020). A Definitive History of Space Tourism & Human Spaceflight https://spacetourismguide.com/history-of-space-tourism/

Erik Seedhouse (2020). Britannica. Space Tourism. https://www.britannica.com/topic/space-tourism

Revfine (2021). Space Tourism: 5 Space Companies That Will Make You An Astronaut. https://www.revfine.com/space-tourism/

BBC UK (2021): Space Exploration. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zqm4fcw/revision/7[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]