Space tourism is another niche segment of the aviation industry that seeks to give tourists the ability to become astronauts and experience space travel for recreational, leisure, or business purposes. Since space tourism is extremely expensive, it is a case of a very small segment of consumers that are able and willing to purchase a space experience. So, make your reservations now. The space tourism industry is officially open for business, and tickets are going for a mere $20 million for a one-week stay in space.
SpaceX
SpaceX is the first private company to develop a liquid-propellant rocket that has reached orbit; to launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft; to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station; and to send astronauts to the International Space Station. It is also the first organization of any type to achieve a vertical propulsive landing of an orbital rocket booster and the first to reuse such a booster. The company’s Falcon 9 rockets have landed and reflown more than 200 times.
On April 8, 2022, SpaceX launched Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) for Axiom Space, sending three space tourists and retired NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría to the International Space Station on a Crew Dragon spacecraft. Ax-1 was the first mission to send multiple space tourists to the ISS. The mission also marked the first of NASA’s officially-sanctioned Private Astronaut Missions (PAMs) to the ISS. Axiom launched one additional space tourist, John Shoffner, alongside retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and two Saudi astronauts, aboard another Crew Dragon for Axiom Mission 2, on May 21, 2023. Through these missions, NASA hopes to create a non-NASA market for human spaceflight to enable cost-sharing on future commercial space stations.
Blue Origin
An American aerospace manufacturer, defense contractor, launch service provider. The company makes rocket engines for United Launch Alliance and manufactures their own rockets, spacecraft, satellites, and heavy-lift launch vehicles. The company is the second provider of lunar lander services for NASA’s Artemis program and was awarded a $3.4 billion contract. The company has four rocket engines in production including the BE-3U, BE-3PM, BE-4 and the BE-7.
Virgin Galactic
The company is developing commercial spacecraft and aims to provide suborbital spaceflights to space tourists . Virgin Galactic’s suborbital spacecraft are air launched from beneath a carrier airplane known as White Knight Two. Virgin Galactic’s maiden spaceflight occurred in 2018 with its VSS Unity spaceship.Branson had originally hoped to see a maiden spaceflight by 2010, but the date was delayed for several years, and then delayed again, primarily due to the October 2014 crash of VSS Enterprise.
This article is a part of the class
“751309 Macro Economic 2”
supervised by Asst. Prof. Napon Hongsakulvasu
Faculty of Economics, Chiang Mai University
This article was written by
Varintorn Taerpairach 65161505