space tourism essay introduction

Essay on Space Tourism

Students are often asked to write an essay on Space Tourism in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Space Tourism

Introduction.

Space tourism is a new and exciting area of the travel industry. It refers to the activity of people traveling into space for leisure and recreation.

Current State of Space Tourism

Currently, space tourism is in its early stages. Few companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic are pioneering these efforts. They aim to make space travel accessible to more people.

The Future of Space Tourism

In the future, we may see more advancements in space tourism. It could become a common experience for people, like going on a vacation.

Space tourism is an exciting prospect. It opens up new possibilities for exploration and adventure.

250 Words Essay on Space Tourism

Introduction to space tourism.

Space tourism, a relatively new concept, is the commercial activity that enables civilians to travel beyond Earth’s atmosphere. It’s a sector that has seen rapid advancements due to technological evolution and increased private sector involvement, particularly from companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic.

Challenges and Opportunities

While the idea of space tourism is exciting, it presents significant challenges, including high costs, safety concerns, and environmental impacts. The cost of a single trip can run into millions of dollars, making it accessible only to the wealthy. Safety is another concern as space travel involves considerable risk. Moreover, the environmental impact of rocket launches, which produce substantial greenhouse gas emissions, cannot be ignored.

However, space tourism also presents immense opportunities. It has the potential to spur technological innovation, create new jobs, and promote scientific research. Furthermore, it can help us understand our place in the universe and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.

Future of Space Tourism

The future of space tourism is promising, yet uncertain. Technological advancements might reduce costs and increase safety, making space travel more accessible. However, regulations need to be put in place to manage the environmental impact and ensure the sustainable development of this sector.

In conclusion, space tourism represents a thrilling frontier for human exploration and commercial opportunity. It’s a testament to our technological prowess and insatiable curiosity. However, it also forces us to confront new challenges and responsibilities. As we stand at the precipice of this new era, it’s crucial to navigate it thoughtfully and sustainably.

500 Words Essay on Space Tourism

Space tourism, a novel concept in the realm of travel, has been gaining momentum as we inch closer to the future. It refers to the activity of traveling beyond Earth’s atmosphere for recreational purposes. It is an exciting prospect that combines the thrill of exploration with the allure of the unknown, promising a unique experience that is out of this world.

Evolution of Space Tourism

The idea of space tourism is not new. It was born out of science fiction, and for many years, it remained a distant dream. However, technological advances and the privatization of space exploration have turned this dream into a reality. The first space tourist, Dennis Tito, embarked on his journey to the International Space Station in 2001. Since then, a handful of wealthy individuals have experienced space travel, paving the way for the future of tourism.

The Role of Private Companies

Private companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic have been instrumental in the development of space tourism. They are pioneering the use of reusable rockets, reducing the cost of space travel, and making it more accessible. These companies envision a future where space travel is as common as air travel, with regular flights to space hotels and even other planets.

Challenges and Concerns

Despite the progress, space tourism faces several challenges. The cost of space travel is prohibitively high, limiting it to the extremely wealthy. Additionally, there are significant safety concerns. Space travel is inherently risky, and the potential for accidents is high. Furthermore, there are environmental concerns. The rocket launches required for space travel produce a large amount of greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change.

Future Prospects

Looking ahead, the prospects for space tourism are promising. As technology advances, the cost of space travel is expected to decrease, making it more accessible. There is also potential for space hotels, lunar vacations, and even trips to Mars. These developments could revolutionize tourism and open up a new frontier for human exploration.

In conclusion, space tourism represents the next frontier in travel, offering unprecedented experiences and opportunities for exploration. While it currently faces significant challenges, advancements in technology and the involvement of private companies are paving the way for a future where space travel is commonplace. As we stand on the brink of this new era, it is exciting to imagine what the future of space tourism might hold. Despite the challenges, the prospect of exploring the cosmos is a thrilling one, promising to broaden our horizons and deepen our understanding of the universe.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Space Technology
• Essay on Sustainability in Space
• Essay on India’s Achievements in Space

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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The Future of Space Tourism Is Now. Well, Not Quite.

From zero-pressure balloon trips to astronaut boot camps, reservations for getting off the planet — or pretending to — are skyrocketing. The prices, however, are still out of this world.

By Debra Kamin

Ilida Alvarez has dreamed of traveling to space since she was a child. But Ms. Alvarez, a legal-mediation firm owner, is afraid of flying, and she isn’t a billionaire — two facts that she was sure, until just a few weeks ago, would keep her fantasy as out of reach as the stars. She was wrong.

Ms. Alvarez, 46, and her husband, Rafael Landestoy, recently booked a flight on a 10-person pressurized capsule that — attached to a massive helium-filled balloon — will gently float to 100,000 feet while passengers sip champagne and recline in ergonomic chairs. The reservation required a $500 deposit; the flight itself will cost $50,000 and last six to 12 hours.

“I feel like it was tailor-made for the chickens like me who don’t want to get on a rocket,” said Ms. Alvarez, whose flight, organized by a company called World View , is scheduled to depart from the Grand Canyon in 2024.

Less than a year after Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson kicked off a commercial space race by blasting into the upper atmosphere within weeks of each other last summer, the global space tourism market is skyrocketing, with dozens of companies now offering reservations for everything from zero-pressure balloon trips to astronaut boot camps and simulated zero-gravity flights. But don’t don your spacesuit just yet. While the financial services company UBS estimates the space travel market will be worth $3 billion by 2030, the Federal Aviation Administration has yet to approve most out-of-this-world trips, and construction has not started on the first space hotel. And while access and options — not to mention launchpads — are burgeoning, space tourism remains astronomically expensive for most.

First, what counts as space travel?

Sixty miles (about 100 kilometers) above our heads lies the Kármán line, the widely accepted aeronautical boundary of the earth’s atmosphere. It’s the boundary used by the Féderátion Aéronautique Internationale, which certifies and controls global astronautical records. But many organizations in the United States, including the F.A.A. and NASA, define everything above 50 miles to be space.

Much of the attention has been focused on a trio of billionaire-led rocket companies: Mr. Bezos’ Blue Origin , whose passengers have included William Shatner; Mr. Branson’s Virgin Galactic , where tickets for a suborbital spaceflight start at $450,000; and Elon Musk’s SpaceX , which in September launched an all-civilian spaceflight, with no trained astronauts on board. Mr. Branson’s inaugural Virgin Galactic flight in 2021 reached about 53 miles, while Blue Origin flies above the 62-mile mark. Both are eclipsed by SpaceX, whose rockets charge far deeper in to the cosmos, reaching more than 120 miles above Earth.

Balloons, like those operated by World View, don’t go nearly as high. But even at their maximum altitude of 18 or 19 miles, operators say they float high enough to show travelers the curvature of the planet, and give them a chance to experience the overview effect — an intense perspective shift that many astronauts say kicks in when you view Earth from above.

Now, how to get there …

Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, which are both licensed for passenger space travel by the F.A.A., are open for ticket sales. (Blue Origin remains mum on pricing.) Both companies currently have hundreds or even thousands of earthlings on their wait lists for a whirl to the edge of space. SpaceX charges tens of millions of dollars for its further-reaching flights and is building a new facility in Texas that is currently under F.A.A. review.

Craig Curran is a major space enthusiast — he’s held a reserved seat on a Virgin Galactic flight since 2011 — and the owner of Deprez Travel in Rochester, N.Y. The travel agency has a special space travel arm, Galactic Experiences by Deprez , through which Mr. Curran sells everything from rocket launch tickets to astronaut training.

Sales in the space tourism space, Mr. Curran acknowledges, “are reasonably difficult to make,” and mostly come from peer-to-peer networking. “You can imagine that people who spend $450,000 to go to space probably operate in circles that are not the same as yours and mine,” he said.

Some of Mr. Curran’s most popular offerings include flights where you can experience the same stomach-dropping feeling of zero gravity that astronauts feel in space, which he arranges for clients via chartered, specialized Boeing 727s that are flown in parabolic arcs to mimic being in space. Operators including Zero G also offer the service; the cost is around $8,200.

You can almost count the number of completed space tourist launches on one hand — Blue Origin has had four; SpaceX, two. Virgin Galactic, meanwhile, on Thursday announced the launch of its commercial passenger service, previously scheduled for late 2022, was delayed until early 2023. Many of those on waiting lists are biding their time before blastoff by signing up for training. Axiom Space, which contracts with SpaceX, currently offers NASA-partnered training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center. Virgin Galactic, which already offers a “customized Future Astronaut Readiness program” at its Spaceport America facility in New Mexico, is also partnering with NASA to build a training program for private astronauts.

Would-be space tourists should not expect the rigor that NASA astronauts face. Training for Virgin Galactic’s three-hour trips is included in the cost of a ticket and lasts a handful of days; it includes pilot briefings and being “fitted for your bespoke Under Armour spacesuit and boots,” according to its website.

Not ready for a rocket? Balloon rides offer a less hair-raising celestial experience.

“We go to space at 12 miles an hour, which means that it’s very smooth and very gentle. You’re not rocketing away from earth,” said Jane Poynter, a co-founder and co-chief executive of Space Perspective , which is readying its own touristic balloon spaceship, Spaceship Neptune. If all goes according to plan, voyages are scheduled to begin departing from Florida in 2024, at a cost of $125,000 per person. That’s a fraction of the price tag for Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, but still more than double the average annual salary of an American worker.

Neither Space Perspective nor World View has the required approval yet from the F.A.A. to operate flights.

Unique implications

Whether a capsule or a rocket is your transport, the travel insurance company battleface launched a civilian space insurance plan in late 2021, a direct response, said chief executive Sasha Gainullin, to an increase in space tourism interest and infrastructure. Benefits include accidental death and permanent disablement in space and are valid for spaceflights on operators like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, as well as on stratospheric balloon rides. They’ve had many inquiries, Mr. Gainullin said, but no purchases just yet.

“Right now it’s such high-net-worth individuals who are traveling to space, so they probably don’t need insurance,” he said. “But for quote-unquote regular travelers, I think we’ll see some takeups soon.”

And as the industry grows, so perhaps will space travel’s impact on the environment. Not only do rocket launches have immense carbon footprints, even some stratospheric balloon flights have potentially significant implications: World View’s balloons are powered by thousands of cubic meters of helium, which is a limited resource . But Ted Parson, a professor of environmental law at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that space travel’s environmental impact is still dwarfed by civil aviation. And because space travel is ultra-niche, he believes it’s likely to stay that way.

“Despite extensive projections, space tourism is likely to remain a tiny fraction of commercial space exploration,” he said. “It reminds me of tourism on Mt. Everest. It’s the indulgence of very rich people seeking a transcendent, once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the local environmental burden is intense.”

Stay a while?

In the future, space enthusiasts insist, travelers won’t be traveling to space just for the ride. They’ll want to stay a while. Orbital Assembly Corporation, a manufacturing company whose goal is to colonize space, is currently building the world’s first space hotels — two ring-shaped properties that will orbit Earth, called Pioneer Station and Voyager Station. The company, quite optimistically, projects an opening date of 2025 for Pioneer Station, with a capacity of 28 guests. The design for the larger Voyager Station , which they say will open in 2027, promises villas and suites, as well as a gym, restaurant and bar. Both provide the ultimate luxury: simulated gravity. Axiom Space , a space infrastructure company, is currently building the world’s first private space station; plans include Philippe Starck-designed accommodations for travelers to spend the night.

Joshua Bush, chief executive of travel agency Avenue Two Travel , has sold a handful of seats on upcoming Virgin Galactic flights to customers. The market for space travel (and the sky-high prices that come with it), he believes, will evolve much like civilian air travel did.

“In the beginning of the 20th century, only very affluent people could afford to fly,” he said. “Just as we have Spirit and Southwest Airlines today, there will be some sort of equivalent of that in space travel, too. Hopefully within my lifetime.”

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What’s Up in Space and Astronomy

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Dante Lauretta, the planetary scientist who led the OSIRIS-REx mission to retrieve a handful of space dust , discusses his next final frontier.

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The future of space tourism: op-ed

Dylan Taylor is a global entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist who acts as the Chairman and CEO of Voyager Space Holdings and the founder of Space for Humanity , a nonprofit organization that seeks to democratize space exploration. He has also served as an active advocate and philanthropist in the space manufacturing industry and a strategic advisor for the Archmission and the Human Spaceflight Program while also acting as the co-founding patron of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. He contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Opinions and Insights .

It's true that 2020 spawned a collective feeling of retreat coupled with a FOMO (fear of missing out) that inspires us to escape a chaotic world. For now, we have the silence of nature or an eventual trip abroad, but the future can provide a more adventurous escape: one to the stars.

The NewSpace industry has its sights set on space tourism , a growing market expected to be worth at least $3 billion by 2030 . As companies like SpaceX test reusable rocket technology to make spaceflight more affordable and accessible for humans, other private firms, including Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, are investing in suborbital space tourism to take Earthlings into the very edge of space and back. While only uber-wealthy passengers and private researchers will have access to space tourism in the immediate future, the long term holds promises for ordinary citizens.

The evolution of technology plays a vital role in sending more tourists to space and a few influential trends will determine the future of space tourism, along with the progress we make both on and off our home planet.

Related: Space tourists will face big risks, as private companies gear up for paid suborbital flights

Commercial suborbital trips

Suborbital travel will likely be the space tourism subsector to materialize first, but it may also be the most short-lived. However, Blue Origin , backed by Jeff Bezos, is testing its New Shepard system that will launch customers to the edge of space in a capsule which separates from a small rocket and retreats back to Earth under parachutes. Richard Branson's company Virgin Galactic relies on a space plane, dropped from a carrier aircraft, with a rocket motor that speeds up and takes passengers high into the atmosphere.

Both companies' shuttle systems are designed to fly passengers over 50 miles above Earth's atmosphere, allowing customers to experience the feeling of weightlessness for a few minutes. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo will launch its next human spaceflight test on Dec. 11 as Blue Origin eyes early 2021.

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These brief spaceflights hold opportunities for tourism and scientific research and present unique experiences for space observation at varying trajectories and regulatory requirements. However, Axios reports concerns over declined public interest in suborbital tourism as a passing interest due to high costs and a short-lived ride. This may deflate the market as passengers await new developments in the field.

But there's some hope. Some experts look to commercial suborbital trips to take the place of long-distance air travel that can eventually cater to everyday citizens. SpaceX plans to use its Starship rocket to fly 100 people around the world in mere minutes. The company stated that a 15-hour flight to Shanghai from New York would be capable of flying in 39 minutes. According to UBS, if even only 5% of the average 150 million passengers that travel on 10 hour or longer flights pay $2,500 per trip, then returns could skyrocket to $20 billion per year in today's value.

A recent UBS report mentions, "Space tourism could be the stepping stone for the development of long-haul travel on earth serviced by space."

Related: Virgin Galactic wants to send people on superfast trips across Earth  

Orbital vacations

Orbital tourism, which entails remaining in space for at least one full orbit, is another major focus of governmental agencies and private space companies, all of which have the long-term goal to inhabit the moon and Mars. Projects from Boeing, SpaceX and Axiom Space plan to start launching tourists to the International Space Station on commercial spacecraft beginning as early as this year. SpaceX is also partnering with Space Adventures to send four tourists to low Earth orbit for a few days in late 2021 or early 2022.

As more companies consider in-space tourism, orbital vacations are set to become a popular trend. Orbital vacationing infrastructure, including orbital and lunar-based hotels, is positioned to become lucrative as space infrastructure companies already hauled in a combined $3.6 billion so far this year . 

Much of this infrastructure remains in preliminary stages, but the first approach may be to establish low-orbit hotels. One hotel design expects to send guests in a hydrogen-filled balloon with a pressurized capsule, utilizing Earth's gravity. Other options include designing or renovating an existing space station to accommodate guests. NASA, for instance, is opening up the International Space Station for commercial tourism . The Aurora Station , a planned luxury hotel that will host six guests for a $9.5 million, 12-day stay in low Earth orbit, will charge $9.5 million for the trip. It's pricey, but experts predict prices will fall like they did in the tech industry for computers and mobile phones.

A proposal for expandable space habitats may also serve as orbital hotels. Made of unique materials and easily stored at home, they are launched to space where they're inflated to true size. Bigelow Space invented the B330 , a space habitat that enlarges to form a hotel or living area for humans in space. As demand increases, they are interconnected to other inflatable habitats to increase their size. Bigelow also plans to develop an attached inflated module to the International Space Station as one of the first hotels in space. In-space vacations will eventually be the gateway for moon and Mars habitation.

Nurturing the space and world economies

Private space companies are devotedly investing across space tourism and firms like UBS consider access to space an enabler to broader opportunities for investment.

More next-generation engineers will enter the space tourism sector for the scope of opportunities and innovation, eventually decreasing the barriers to entry that will increase competition, lower costs, and ultimately democratize space travel for everyday citizens. 

Of course, there are crucial safety, comfort and health factors to consider. Training, medical screenings and liability waivers will need to be examined before tourists head to space. 

Space tourism will be a small subsector of the industry, but it will bolster the entire NewSpace industry. Once space tourism does become mainstream, it will also positively impact many socioeconomic factors on Earth: creating jobs, educating citizens about space and fostering a new solar-based energy infrastructure. The sweet escape to the stars can eventually awaken us to the awe-inspiring potential of space exploration while also giving us a better appreciation of home.

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Space Tourism: Can A Civilian Go To Space?

2021 has been a busy year for private space tourism: overall, more than 15 civilians took a trip to space during this year. In this article, you will learn more about the space tourism industry, its history, and the companies that are most likely to make you a space tourist.

What is space tourism?

Brief history of space tourism, space tourism companies, orbital and suborbital space flights, how much does it cost for a person to go to space, is space tourism worth it, can i become a space tourist, why is space tourism bad for the environment.

Space tourism is human space travel for recreational or leisure purposes . It’s divided into different types, including orbital, suborbital, and lunar space tourism.

However, there are broader definitions for space tourism. According to the Space Tourism Guide , space tourism is a commercial activity related to space that includes going to space as a tourist, watching a rocket launch, going stargazing, or traveling to a space-focused destination.

The first space tourist was Dennis Tito, an American multimillionaire, who spent nearly eight days onboard the International Space Station in April 2001. This trip cost him $20 million and made Tito the first private citizen who purchased his space ticket. Over the next eight years, six more private citizens followed Tito to the International Space Station to become space tourists.

As space tourism became a real thing, dozens of companies entered this industry hoping to capitalize on renewed public interest in space, including Blue Origin in 2000 and Virgin Galactic in 2004. In the 2000s, space tourists were limited to launches aboard Russian Soyuz aircraft and only could go to the ISS. However, everything changed when the other players started to grow up on the market. There are now a variety of destinations and companies for travels to space.

There are now six major space companies that are arranging or planning to arrange touristic flights to space:

• Virgin Galactic;
• Blue Origin;
• Axiom Space;
• Space Perspective.

While the first two are focused on suborbital flights, Axiom and Boeing are working on orbital missions. SpaceX, in its turn, is prioritizing lunar tourism in the future. For now, Elon Musk’s company has allowed its Crew Dragon spacecraft to be chartered for orbital flights, as it happened with the Inspiration4 3-day mission . Space Perspective is developing a different balloon-based system to carry customers to the stratosphere and is planning to start its commercial flights in 2024.

Orbital and suborbital flights are very different. Taking an orbital flight means staying in orbit; in other words, going around the planet continually at a very high speed to not fall back to the Earth. Such a trip takes several days, even a week or more. A suborbital flight in its turn is more like a space hop — you blast off, make a huge arc, and eventually fall back to the Earth, never making it into orbit. A flight duration, in this case, ranges from 2 to 3 hours.

Here is an example: a spaceflight takes you to an altitude of 100 km above the Earth. To enter into orbit — make an orbital flight — you would have to gain a speed of about 28,000 km per hour (17,400 mph) or more. But to reach the given altitude and fall back to the Earth — make a suborbital flight — you would have to fly at only 6,000 km per hour (3,700 mph). This flight takes less energy, less fuel; therefore, it is less expensive.

• Virgin Galactic: $250,000 for a 2-hour suborbital flight at an altitude of 80 km;
• Blue Origin: approximately $300,000 for 12 minutes suborbital flight at an altitude of 100 km;
• Axiom Space: $55 million for a 10-day orbital flight;
• Space Perspective: $125,000 for a 6-hour flight to the edge of space (32 km above the Earth).

The price depends, but remember that suborbital space flights are always cheaper.

What exactly do you expect from a journey to space? Besides the awesome impressions, here is what you can experience during such a trip:

• Weightlessness . Keep in mind that during a suborbital flight you’ll get only a couple of minutes in weightlessness, but it will be truly fascinating .
• Space sickness . The symptoms include cold sweating, malaise, loss of appetite, nausea, fatigue, and vomiting. Even experienced astronauts are not immune from it!
• G-force . 1G is the acceleration we feel due to the force of gravity; a usual g-force astronauts experience during a rocket launch is around 3gs. To understand how a g-force influences people , watch this video.

For now, the most significant barrier for space tourism is price. But air travel was also once expensive; a one-way ticket cost more than half the price of a new car . Most likely, the price for space travel will reduce overtime as well. For now, you need to be either quite wealthy or win in a competition, as did Sian Proctor, a member of Inspiration4 mission . But before spending thousands of dollars on space travel, here is one more fact you might want to consider.

Rocket launches are harmful to the environment in general. During the burning of rocket fuels, rocket engines release harmful gases and soot particles (also known as black carbon) into the upper atmosphere, resulting in ozone depletion. Think about this: in 2018 black-carbon-producing rockets emitted about the same amount of black carbon as the global aviation industry emits annually.

However, not all space companies use black carbon for fuel. Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket has a liquid hydrogen-fuelled engine: hydrogen doesn’t emit carbon but simply turns into water vapor when burning.

The main reason why space tourism could be harmful to the environment is its potential popularity. With the rising amount of rocket launches the carbon footprint will only increase — Virgin Galactic alone aims to launch 400 of these flights annually. Meanwhile, the soot released by 1,000 space tourism flights could warm Antarctica by nearly 1°C !

Would you want to become a space tourist? Let us know your opinion on social media and share the article with your friends, if you enjoyed it! Also, the Best Mobile App Awards 2021 is going on right now, and we would very much appreciate it if you would vote for our Sky Tonight app . Simply tap "Vote for this app" in the upper part of the screen. No registration is required!

Space tourism explained: What, why and where

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Space tourism is an exciting development in the travel and tourism industry. A futuristic type of tourism , the prospect of being able to spend leisure time in space is a daunting concept for many. But whilst some of us may have expected only have to be able to experience space tourism using virtual reality software, several companies are turning holidays in space into a reality.

What is space tourism?

Space tourism definitions, history of space tourism, rocket launches, space museums, space tourism holidays, virgin galactic, blue origin, is space tourism safe, the cost of space tourism holidays, space tourism: conclusion, further reading.

Space tourism is a type of tourism that involves an interest in space. Whilst most people associate space tourism solely with trips to space, the concept of space tourism is, in fact, broader than this.

Space tourism can include visiting space-focussed museums, watching rocket launches or travelling to destinations popular for stargazing, amongst other space-related activities.

Most recently, there has been a lot of commercial attention centred around the concept of travelling to space as a tourist; this is something that several companies are working to achieve in the near future, including Virgin Galactic and SpaceX.

If you Google the phrase ‘what is space tourism’ you will quickly be informed by Google, Wikipedia and a range of other sources that it is travelling to space for leisure or business purposes.

I, however, contest that space tourism is solely focussed upon the act of travelling to space. There is so much more to space tourism than this! Yes, this is an exciting prospect that has grabbed the attention of the media and the public, but hold on a minute…. what about all the other space-related activities that we can do without boarding a rocket and leaving the solar system?

The people over at The Space Tourism Guide have the right idea. They state that;

‘Space Tourism is not — and should not be — confined to space alone… While we can and should consider all of the activities from space tourism companies like Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Zero2Infinity, and others space tourism, we should not discredit the companies and destinations here on earth who meet the needs and desires for all of us who love to travel for space-related activities. These can vary widely, from cities and museums like Space Center Houston to hotels with space-themed rooms.’

Space tourism is so much more than taking a trip to space! In fact, I argue that space tourism should encompass all activities related to space and astrology!

To date, there is little academic research into space tourism. Yes, some people have looked into astrology and the like, but on the whole, there is a dearth of information. Most research that has been conducted has focussed on looking at potential demand and market demographics.

In light of the misleading definitions that you will find when asking your favourite search engine what is meant by the term space tourism, I have provided my own definition below.

‘Space tourism is the act of taking part in activities that involve or are related to space, either for business or leisure purposes.’

So there you have it- a definition of space tourism.

There are a total of 600 people that have been to space. The first man visited space in 1961, but it was actually long before this day that many people developed an interest in space. In fact, people have been star gazing as long as records go back. Heck, even the ancient pyramids of Egypt were built around the stars .

So, the concept of space tourism is not new.

The 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s saw huge progress in space research. The Soviet Union and The United States were world leaders in this area; undertaking many trips to space, exploring our solar system, nearby planets and moons. Space travel became more affordable and we learnt a lot during this time.

It was only at the turn of the new millennium that commercial space tourism ,whereby a tourist could travel to space, started to become a reality. A handful of wealthy citizens from around the world embarked on their leisure outings to space between 2001-2009. Observing this demand, a number of space tourism operators began to emerge, namely Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and Rocket Lab. Said companies have since become household names.

In recent years the commercial hype and excitement towards space tourism has died down. The public continue to eagerly await the days that they may be able to exchange their all-inclusive holiday in Benidorm for a week of zero-gravity in space, but for most, this is an unrealistic and unachievable prospect.

For now, it appears that travelling into space will be available only for the super-rich, and we do not yet know when this might be attainable. BUT the space tourism industry in all its other forms (museums, star gazing, rocket launches etc) remains to be obtainable to all.

Types of space tourism

We might not realistically be able to travel into space for our annual leave days just yet, but there are still ways that we can get involved with the space tourism industry. Here are some examples.

Stargazing is a popular space tourism pastime for many. There are many parts of the world that are renowned for their stargazing potential. These are usually remote areas, where the light pollution is reduced, enabling maximum visibility.

Some popular stargazing destinations have capitalised on the tourist market by organising stargazing tours or stargazing-focussed accommodation options, such as bubble hotels. This CNN article shows you some of the best bubble hotel spots around the world. Many people use this opportunity to visit the Northern Lights or the Southern Lights too.

Lots of these destinations are perfect for practicing your astrophotography too!

Whilst a rocket launch may not be an everyday occurrence, it is possible to spectate when they do happen. Once operated only by Governments, there are now a range of private companies that undertake rocket launches.

If you travel to a destination with the sole intention of watching a rocket launch, or if you watch a rocket launch alongside other business or leisure pursuits, you can be classified as a space tourist.

A prominent part of the space tourism industry are space museums.

There are many museums throughout the world that are focussed around the concept of space, although these are most numerous in the United States and Russia. Here are some of the most highly-rated space museums.

• Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC, US
• Canada Aviation and Space Museum, Ottawa, Canada
• Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, Moscow, Russia
• Pima Air and Space Museum, Arizona , US
• Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, New York City, US
• Le Bourget Air and Space Museum, Paris, France
• Kennedy Space Center, Florida , US
• Cité de l’espace, Toulouse, France

As I mentioned earlier, space tourism holidays are what many people think space tourism is all about. Whilst there are other activities that constitute space tourism, space tourism holidays have gained a lot of media attention in recent years, and rightly so. Who wouldn’t pick up the paper and read an article that tells them that they can swap their two weeks in the sun for two weeks in space?

OK, so it isn’t quite so simple. It will require some adjustment to spending time at zero gravity, you might get a little travel sick and you might not return home with quite the same tan lines, BUT space tourism holidays are set to become a reality.

There are a number of companies who have been developing their space tourism products for a number of years, although exactly when we can go on our next space tourism holiday, is yet to be determined.

Space tourism companies

There are several key players in the space tourism holiday market. See below for a brief summary of each.

Virgin Galactic is perhaps one of the best known space tourism holiday companies. It is part of the wider Virgin Group and therefore has the benefit of an already well-established brand and reputation. It is owned by Richard Branson.

The company plans to send range of tourists to space and already has an extensive waitlist for eager space travellers, including the likes of Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber.

Virgin Galactic has, however, had some negative publicity in recent times, with multiple delays and the in-flight loss of its VSS Enterprise spaceplane in 2014.

Unlike Virgin Galactic, SpaceX are an experienced rocket launching company that are now extending their operations to the commercial space tourism holiday market.

SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk. Their first holiday was initially scheduled for 2018, but has since been delayed.

Blue Origin plans to offer similar space tourism holidays to that offered by Virgin Galactic. With a traditional, vertical take-off rocket, the company plans to begin operations soon, although there is not firm date set yet.

Blue Origin was founded in 2000 by Mr Bezos.

Orion Span plans to send tourists to space to stay in their ‘space hotel’. The space hotel would accommodate up to six tourists at a time and would be positioned the private commercial space station, Aurora Space Station.

The CEO of Orion Span is Frank Bunger who states that the company’s ‘goal is to make space accessible to all’. They plan to begin operations in 2021.

Better known for their aircraft that do not leave the hemisphere, Boeing have also branched out into the space tourism holiday market.

Boeing’s involvement emerged from their working arrangement with NASA, whereby they have been working on the Commercial Crew Development programme, aimed at increasing involvement from private sector companies in the production of crew vehicles to be launched into orbit.

Boeing have developed a crew capsule, called the Boeing CST-100 Starliner, providing them with the opportunity to sell seats to space tourists.

There have been some concerns over the safety of space tourism, particularly after the negative publicity surrounding the Virgin Galactic loss of aircraft in 2014.

Because it’s so early in development of the space tourism industry and the FAA can’t control how companies design and manufacture their aircraft , it’s hard to say how safe space tourism holidays will be.

There have been many critiques, however, who have suggested that there will be deaths amongst tourists who seek to holiday in space. The number of accidents that have occurred during the testing phases hasn’t done much to people’s minds at ease, either.

Space tourism holidays are for everyday folk, at least not yet anyway, because you need to have a hefty sum of money in your pocket to be able to afford the ticket.

Prices start from US$250,000 and range up to tens of millions of Dollars. Whilst each space tourism holiday company will differ slightly, prices will typically include pre-departure training and equipment. For now, space tourism trips are set to be short in duration, lasting only a few hours. The intention is, however, that trips can be extended in the future to allow for prolonged stays in space.

As you can see, the space tourism industry is a prominent part of the wider tourism industry. Whilst most attention typically goes to the exciting prospect of space tourism holidays, there are also a number of other leisure pursuits that constitute space tourism.

It is likely that we will see many developments in the space tourism industry in the coming years, as research and development continues to be undertaken by a number of commercial operators. Watch this space and maybe you will be the next person to spend your annual leave days in space!

If you want to read up on the space tourism industry a little more then I can recommend the following texts-

• The Market for Space Tourism: Early Indications by Geoffrey Crouch- An overview of the Space Tourism market and its future potential
• Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly- A diary account of NASA astronaut’s experiences in space.
• Space Tourism by Patrick Stakem- A textbook introducing the concept of space tourism.

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Space Tourism: Eliminating Social, Economical, and Emotional Challenges Proposal

Introduction, background information of the space tourism predicament, thesis/problem statement, objectives of the study, significance of the study operations, the procedure of the study/research methodology, literature review.

Today there is a hot debate regarding the future of space tourism because resent research findings indicate that the phenomenon mostly involves the wealthy corporate or individuals like Dennis Tito: the Californian Multi-Millionaire. Space tourism especially hotel and catering services is one of the main goal of large developing space ship companies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Scaled Composites, Blue Origin, and SpaceX.

The main detractor in this industry is the costs involved. Millionaires such as Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Anousheh Ansari, Charles Simonyi and, Greg Olsen have spent approximately $20 million for a couple of days tour to space. In line with Laliaberte Guy (1, 2009), the seventh private client to take a space adventure in September 30, 2009 in a poetic special mission to create public awareness regarding the “ONE DROP” foundation, the costs are quite high and therefore the characterized with the rich.

Probably the future aspiration of the investors is to make space tourism available at affordable rates with the aim of capturing the middle class. Some year back, people anticipated the emergence of space tour, today the goals shifts to space tourism thus the high growth expectations and experiences.

The capability for space transportation has had very little advancement over the years to facilitate solutions to the big obstacle of space development. New programs and equipments are essential requirements to facilitate space development and access. The reasons why people suffer from high space tourism costs links to the availability of resources.

This means that companies launch space ships that are highly volatile and thus the disposals after only a few usages. Today, there is urgent need for an approach that will move to a more rational and affordable space visit program. The biggest challenge is the ability to come up with a more robust, highly reliable but frequently reusable space ship.

The basis of this paper is on the future expectations of space tourism; it is an analysis of patterns and available perspectives into the key themes of the proposed innovative developments concerning infrastructure, technological advancement, and reusability of resources.

What is the partnership between the government and private sector? Does existence of collaboration enhance capabilities to make the development affordable and available to more willing participants? Hypothetically, the proposal takes the assumption that the future for Space tourism is a program for the rich and one of its key contributors on development advances.

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the consequences and key concepts involved in the development of space tourism and eventually offer suggestions from the research findings on ways of reducing or eliminating the social, economical and emotional challenges behind the tourism sector.

The proposal will lay out needs for researching the background as well as future expectations of space tourism. It will specify the impact to the society as well as those involved in the assessment over the importance of the future endeavours and possible policy recommendations.

The key topics to be covered in the research entails the focus over commercial architecture and the funding required for fostering implementation. The possibility to lower requirement for the developing space tourism and its drive towards lower transportation cost to avail the next generation of efficiency over operations.

What are the challenges faced by the International Space Station (ISS) with regards to cost overruns in facilitation of the key elements for starting the developmental phase? Which are the possible next-generation systems?

The literature reviews of the research will enable better understanding of the topic and the research proposal enhances and quantifies the research as a study topic and prepares for respondents. Information collected will equally tabulate and assist in ranking the findings form broad areas and help to narrow the scope to the objectives of the study analysis. The analysis will then draw the conclusion from generally analyzed data in the literature review.

The research findings will entail data collected through websites of the concern companies as well as marketing companies in the study area, observation of the proceedings over the specified data collection period. For the study analysis, the collected data and studies conducted will discern patterns and formulate principles that might guide future action of the study subject.

In this case, study of space tourism the research checks the background information, progress, surveillance and examination of current state of matter and the involvement with other related cases.

The analysis of records regarding internal as well as external consequences is equally important. Comparison of various space tourism vehicles manufactured today offers better understanding and analysis results. Correlation-prediction will involve statistically correlation and prediction of coefficients between aspiring and involved tourists. The term paper will therefore attempt to find or describe space tourism principles and explain existing status or competitions and propose future direction for the industry.

The main issues prohibiting the launce of more available and affordable space shuttle for potential clients entail costs and markets. Considering production, initiating the new reusable space vehicles would be expensive considering there are only a small number of reusable units.

Secondly, the current technologies are equally expensive. Would large SRB reusable boosters for commercial purposes be economically justifiable? Would the system lower the cost? Is there a compromise over technology? Other major problem includes ability to pay up developmental and production costs in the aim of making a profit. Can the current markets economically justify the cost of space vehicle?

It is easy to imagine the exotic and elegance of the outer space comfort and cruise experience but in these orbital technologies and lifestyles, what markets are better to engage? In line with the Space Tourism Society (1, n.d), the marketing strategies would require knowledge over the facilities to include in the space such as hotels, and the products and services to sustain in such an awkward environments.

According to Futon Corporation (2005), an industrial leader for forecasting the markets related to space tourism, people like travelling and having fun and thus will be willing for the same in spaceships. Currently, the race over space tourism is between commercial enterprises.

Upon the first commercial trip by Dennis Tito aboard a “Soyuz TM-32,” (Shayler, 1), in 2004 “British aviator-financier Richard Branson announced the launch of Virgin Galactic, a company which aimed at use of Spaceship One technology, with hopes of launching sub-orbital flights by 2008”. This race for space tourism was evident with the launch of the “Virgin Galactic’s space vehicles.”

This is a positive step since it has hybrid rocket motor power for enhancing reusability due to high amount of control it avails the pilots over landing. According to Virgin Galactic, for the size of such a space ship, it has the ability to perform by manoeuvring over great heights (Virgin Galactic, 1).

Today most governments fail to recognize the potential of space tourism investment as prospective “revenue generating tax base or a drive to greater market drive for next generation” (Whalen, 3).

However, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has greater initiative programs for generating reports over procedures to reduce risks and availing architectural requirements that meet the future generation space vehicles. The aim for space advancement has been a race between the Soviet Union and United States since 1957 when Soviet launched “Sputnik 1” (Siddiqi, 1).

Nations such as China are in a position of increasing competition over exploration of space tourism. Their funding may be excessively low in comparison to ESA and NASA but they have a success basis concerning “Shenzhou 5 and Shenzhou 6.”

The space tourism industry is similar to the past airline history. There are many potential passengers willing to venture the sector or participate and the governments should therefore consider this as an eminent opportunity to solve the current costly space access inconveniences.

If the corporation between the private sector and the government is able to drive admission charges to a lower level with the aim of encouraging rebirth of a new arena that encourages commerce and industry, then there will be a great utilization of the space opportunities for growth. The space tourism is an identified market niche that might catalyze utilization of infrastructure in space especially due to future discoveries.

Futron Corporation. “Space Tourism Market Study orbital space travel & destinations with suborbital space travel.” Wisconsin, Bethesda, Maryland, MD. 2002. Web.

Shayler, David J. “Soyuz: A Universal Spacecraft .” Rex Hall Associates Limited, London, 2003.

Siddiqi, Asif A. “Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge.” Florida, FL. University Press Publishers. 2003.

Space Tourism Society. “The Orbital Lifestyle.” A non-profit visionary space experience research and design organization. (n.d). Retrieved from < http://spacetourismsociety.org/ >.

Virgin Galactic. “Spaceships: Virgin Galactic’s Vehicles.” (n.d). Retrieved from < https://www.virgingalactic.com/ >.

Whalen, David J. “Communications Satellites: Making the Global Village Possible .”

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). 2007. Retrieved from < https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/satcomhistory.html >.

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IvyPanda. (2022, June 20). Space Tourism: Eliminating Social, Economical, and Emotional Challenges. https://ivypanda.com/essays/proposal-for-a-research-paper-on-space-tourism/

"Space Tourism: Eliminating Social, Economical, and Emotional Challenges." IvyPanda , 20 June 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/proposal-for-a-research-paper-on-space-tourism/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Space Tourism: Eliminating Social, Economical, and Emotional Challenges'. 20 June.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Space Tourism: Eliminating Social, Economical, and Emotional Challenges." June 20, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/proposal-for-a-research-paper-on-space-tourism/.

1. IvyPanda . "Space Tourism: Eliminating Social, Economical, and Emotional Challenges." June 20, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/proposal-for-a-research-paper-on-space-tourism/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Space Tourism: Eliminating Social, Economical, and Emotional Challenges." June 20, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/proposal-for-a-research-paper-on-space-tourism/.

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Want to be a space tourist? Here are 6 things to consider first

The industry of space tourism could exist in the future. Image:  Unsplash/NASA

.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo{-webkit-transition:all 0.15s ease-out;transition:all 0.15s ease-out;cursor:pointer;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;outline:none;color:inherit;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:hover,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-hover]{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:focus,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-focus]{box-shadow:0 0 0 3px rgba(168,203,251,0.5);} Steven Freeland

.chakra .wef-9dduvl{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-9dduvl{font-size:1.125rem;}} Explore and monitor how .chakra .wef-15eoq1r{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;color:#F7DB5E;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-15eoq1r{font-size:1.125rem;}} Space is affecting economies, industries and global issues

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Stay up to date:.

• In July 2021, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos went up into space, accompanied by fellow passengers.
• These trips created vast amounts of media coverage and brand recognition for Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Bezos’ Blue Origin.
• This could indicate that a commercial space tourism industry is on the horizon.
• Before space trips become commercially available, important factors such as environmental and safety laws need to be considered.

It’s been a momentous month for space-faring billionaires. On July 11, British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson’s Unity “rocket-plane” flew him and five fellow passengers about 85 kilometres above Earth. And this week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ New Shepard capsule reached an altitude of 106km , carrying Bezos, his brother, and the oldest and youngest people ever to reach such a height. Passengers on both flights experienced several minutes of weightlessness and took in breathtaking views of our beautiful and fragile Earth.

Both flights created an avalanche of media coverage and brand recognition for Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Bezos’s Blue Origin. There is renewed anticipation of a lucrative commercial space tourism industry that could eventually see thousands of paying passengers journey into space (or not quite into space, depending on your preferred level of pedantry).

This year marks 60 years since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. Since then, almost 600 trained astronauts have gone into outer space, but very few people have become space tourists.

The first, US engineer Dennis Tito, paid a reported US$20 million to spend six days orbiting Earth in the Russian section of the International Space Station in April 2001, after three months’ training at Russia’s Star City complex. He was followed by a handful of other very wealthy “orbital tourists”, most recently Cirque de Soleil founder Guy Laliberté in 2009, whose ticket reportedly cost US$35 million.

Unlike their predecessors, Branson’s and Bezos’ flights were suborbital – they didn’t reach the velocity needed to orbit Earth. Bezos’s entire flight lasted just over 10 minutes. Suborbital flights are much less technically complex, and in theory cheaper (although one seat on the New Shepard flight was auctioned for US$28 million ).

While they might quibble over billionaire bragging rights, there’s no denying that suborbital “space” flights have the potential to be less eye-wateringly expensive than going into orbital outer space and beyond.

But before you sign up – assuming you’re lucky enough to afford it – here are a few things to consider.

Where does space start, anyway?

Have you read, how many space launches does it take to have a serious climate impact, from space squid to saliva: what's inside nasa's cargo missions and why, the big space clean-up - and why it matters.

Despite assertions to the contrary , there is no legal definition of “outer space”, and thus no official boundary where airspace ends and outer space begins. In the past, the International Aeronautical Federation has looked to the von Karman line , but this does not coincide with the boundary of any of the atmosphere’s scientifically defined layers, and the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space , which deals with such issues, has not yet resolved the question.

Conveniently for Branson, 80km has been proposed by some experts as an appropriate boundary.

Outer space is undeniably influenced by Earthly geopolitics. Essentially, the larger space-faring countries see no need to legally define a boundary that would clearly demarcate the upper limits of their sovereignty.

Will you be an ‘astronaut’?

The 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty designates astronauts as “envoys of (hu)mankind in outer space”. Certainly, that seemed to be the case as the world watched the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing and prayed for a safe return of the stricken Apollo 13 capsule. However, the 1968 UN Rescue Agreement refers to “personnel of a spacecraft”, which may imply not everyone on board should be considered a fully fledged astronaut.

Of course, these legal niceties won’t deter space tourism companies from awarding “astronaut wings” to their passengers.

What laws apply when things go wrong?

The 1986 Challenger and 2003 Columbia shuttle disasters are stark reminders of the dangers of space travel. Human space travel has always involved determining acceptable levels of risk for trained astronauts. But commercial space tourism is different to state-sponsored space programs, and will need the highest possible safety standards.

Commercial space travel will also require a system of responsibility and liability, for cases in which a space tourist suffers injury, loss or damage.

Space tourists (or their families) can’t claim for compensation under the 1972 UN Liability Convention which, in terms of space, applies only to collisions between space objects such as satellites and space debris. While there may be scope to take legal action under national laws, it is likely space tourists will be asked to sign carefully worded waivers of liability.

The same is probably true of international air law , which applies to “aircraft” — a designation space tourism operators will understandably be keen to avoid.

Ultimately, we may need to develop a system of “aerospace law” to govern these suborbital flights as well as “transorbital” transport such as the keenly envisaged flights that might one day take passengers from Sydney to London in just a few hours.

What activities should be allowed in space?

The advent of space tourism will give rise to some interesting ethical questions. Should there be advertising billboards in space? What about casinos, or brothels? On what legal basis should these things be restricted?

How does tourism fit with the underlying philosophy of space law: that the exploration and use of outer space “shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries”?

Will space tourism harm the environment?

Space tourism will inevitably put pressure on Earth’s environment – there are claims that space vehicles may one day become the world’s biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions. We will need to manage space traffic carefully to avoid disastrous collisions and steer clear of space debris .

If tourists go to the Moon, they may cause pollution or damage the heritage of earlier exploration, such as Neil Armstrong’s footprints .

Will tourism workers have to live in space?

If space tourism does become truly widespread, it will need infrastructure and perhaps even staff. People may end up living permanently in space settlements, perhaps having children who will be born as “space citizens”. What legal rights would someone have if they were born at a Moon base? Would they be subject to terrestrial laws, or some version of current international legal rules for outer space?

The World Economic Forum was the first to draw the world’s attention to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the current period of unprecedented change driven by rapid technological advances. Policies, norms and regulations have not been able to keep up with the pace of innovation, creating a growing need to fill this gap.

The Forum established the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network in 2017 to ensure that new and emerging technologies will help—not harm—humanity in the future. Headquartered in San Francisco, the network launched centres in China, India and Japan in 2018 and is rapidly establishing locally-run Affiliate Centres in many countries around the world.

The global network is working closely with partners from government, business, academia and civil society to co-design and pilot agile frameworks for governing new and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) , autonomous vehicles , blockchain , data policy , digital trade , drones , internet of things (IoT) , precision medicine and environmental innovations .

Learn more about the groundbreaking work that the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network is doing to prepare us for the future.

Want to help us shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Contact us to find out how you can become a member or partner.

These are obviously questions for the future. But given the excitement generated by the brief journeys of a couple of wealthy entrepreneurs, we should start contemplating them now. Outer space is the new frontier, but it is not — and must not — be a lawless one.

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Essay on Space Tourism

Space tourism is the only transportation industry that can expose the risk of death due to the lack of independent safety certification. While potential travelers remain optimistic and okay with it, one cannot help but wonder what the cost of this obvious disregard to safety is in search of thrilling experiences. Space tourism companies such as Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have downplayed the risk and danger of space tourism, choosing to advertise the benefits alone. While space tourism was a concept that provided hope for ordinary citizens to visit space, it is clear that the cost of the endeavor is far more expensive than anticipated, the price on environment, cost on society, and the cost on efforts of equality, life and health issues and the economy. Space tourism, in theory, seems like a plausible idea with many benefits. Still, looking at the other side of the coin, it seems like too much trouble to entertain the minority rich people who can afford to pay for tickets.

The passing of the United States commercial space launch competitiveness act prevents and limits regulation which puts the responsibility on the passengers traveling to space. Previous failures that resulted in fatal injuries and death have shown that the industry is not stable. Due to a lack of history on the issue, it is hard to regulate or even assess the safety of the venture. Space tourism is even riskier due to the lack of government regulation; it might expose people to danger due to the lack of corporate oversight. As to the space companies, this is business as usual. The lack of accountability is horrifying (Pulatrova). Scientists have presented concern about the carbon footprint and the resulting black soot left in the stratosphere, which will profoundly impact the current climate change; the lack of regulation is also dangerous as warnings on the environmental threats have gone unheeded. The amount of money being spent on technology and research and even the travel itself is quite worrying that with all the global problems and failing economies, we choose to go on thrilling adventures in space (caro1120). The venture is lucrative since advertised tickets are expensive, and many people might divert to space tourism, leaving current industries bare, causing even more harm to the global economy. America is a global giant in industries and technology, but its diversion to space tourism might cause a domino effect to other countries dependent on its prowess. Also, the efforts to promote equality in society will suffer major setbacks induced by the gap between those who can afford it and those who cannot. And while we are all excited for the great achievement no consideration on the health and especially the mental health of the travelers and crew.

The harsh reality is space tourism is another entertainment venture for the extremely rich supported by an unbeatable PR operation that allows them to use taxpayer’s money and pay very little tax themselves to label rich people as astronauts. Perhaps the venture will be as beneficial as some think, but there is still the question of whether we should consider tackling the problems here on earth, such as human poverty and world hunger, instead of wasting money on space tourism.

Space tourism, however, as stated by Dale Scran of the National Space Society who refutes the claim of pollution, citing that there has been new developments in clean fuel used in travel, the amount of technology innovation that will be achieved, and also the impact on other industries and in the labor market (Society). Various studies have also indicated that space tourism is predicted to boost the economy. Tourism has always greatly impacted the world economy, and this new venture will undoubtedly increase it even more.

Works Cited

caro1120. “Space Exploration (Advantages vs. Disadvantages).”  Soapboxie , Soapboxie, 5 July 2011,  https://soapboxie.com/social-issues/Space-Exploration-Advantages-vs-Disadvantages .

Pultarova, Tereza. “Do Space Tourists Understand the Risk They’re Taking?”  Space.com , 27 Sept. 2021,  www.space.com/space-tourism-risk-safety-regulations .

Society, National Space.  Why Space Tourism? – National Space Society . 23 July 2021,  https://space.nss.org/why-space-tourism/ .

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Articles on Space tourism

Displaying 1 - 20 of 44 articles.

South African hominin fossils were sent into space and scientists are enraged

Dipuo Winnie Kgotleng , University of Johannesburg and Robyn Pickering , University of Cape Town

Sex in space: why it’s worrying that the space tourism sector hasn’t considered the consequences

David Cullen , Cranfield University

Astro-tourism − chasing eclipses, meteor showers and elusive dark skies from Earth

Vahe Peroomian , USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Virgin Galactic’s use of the ‘Overview Effect’ to promote space tourism is a terrible irony

Ariane Moore , University of Tasmania

How can we make the space sector more sustainable?

Nonthapat Pulsiri , TBS Education and Victor Dos Santos Paulino , TBS Education

This course takes college students out of this world – and teaches them what it takes to become space pioneers

Joshua D. Ambrosius , University of Dayton

Axiom launch: why commercial space travel could be another giant leap for air pollution

Eloise Marais , UCL

What happens when someone dies in space? Space tourism brings new legal and moral issues

Christopher Newman , Northumbria University, Newcastle and Nick Caplan , Northumbria University, Newcastle

Death in space: here’s what would happen to our bodies

Tim Thompson , Teesside University

From poo politics to rubbish disposal: 5 big questions about the International Space Station becoming a movie set

Alice Gorman , Flinders University

SpaceX Inspiration4 mission sent 4 people with minimal training into orbit – and brought space tourism closer to reality

Wendy Whitman Cobb , Air University

Keen to sign up for space tourism? Here are 6 things to consider (besides the price tag)

Steven Freeland , Western Sydney University

Space tourism: rockets emit 100 times more CO₂ per passenger than flights – imagine a whole industry

Virgin Galactic: space tourism takes off with Branson’s inaugural flight

Louis Brennan , Trinity College Dublin

Branson vs Bezos: as the billionaires get ready to blast into space, who’s got the better plan?

Chris James , The University of Queensland

Want to become a space tourist? You finally can — if you have $250,000 and a will to sign your life away

Cassandra Steer , Australian National University

Space tourism is here – 20 years after the first stellar tourist, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin plans to send civilians to space

Space tourism – 20 years in the making – is finally ready for launch

Apollo landers, Neil Armstrong’s bootprint and other human artifacts on Moon officially protected by new US law

Michelle L.D. Hanlon , University of Mississippi

The International Space Station at 20 offers hope and a template for future cooperation

Related topics.

• Blue Origin
• Space exploration
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Professor (Digital Technology, Security and Governance), Flinders University

Professor, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, Division of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University

Research Fellow/Reader in Planetary Physics, Lancaster University

Associate Professor, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Lecturer, University of Adelaide

Professor of Aerospace Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northumbria University, Newcastle

Military Space Bioethicist, UNSW Sydney

Lecturer in Digital Cultures, University of Sydney

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1 Introducing Space Tourism

From the book sustainable space tourism.

• Annette Toivonen
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Chapters in this book (15)