Space tourism is quite a trending word and the concept has been there for a long time. Well, turning it into reality is yet to happen. There are already players in and around the world that are working on doing the same and the day when people will go for a space trip is not far. Here’s an overview of the players and their plans in the race called space tourism.
Space X – USA based
Every one knows Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Space X, a California based company. This company has already announced plans to send passengers to the lunar orbit via it’s under development Big Falcon Rocket (BFR).
Blue Origin – USA based
This company of Amazon found Jeff Bezoz and is planning a short space travel for six passengers using a capsule attached on top of an 18 m rocket. After the rocket is launched, the capsule is detached and it goes high up into the sky for up to 60 plus miles.
Virgin Galactic – UK based
Founded by British Billionaire Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic is also planning to take tourists on the short trip to the space to spend several minutes in zero gravity. The space-ship used for the same will pass through the boundary of the Earth’s atmosphere called the Karman line known to be at a distance of 62 miles. The space ship two VSS unity that looks similar to a private jet is to be used for the journey carrying six passengers and two pilots. The carrier spacecraft named the WhiteKnighttwo will take-off with the VSS unity and will detach at 15K meters. Once detached, the spaceship with use its propellers to move towards space. The trip duration is said to be between 90 minutes and 2 hours and the passengers will get to experience zero gravity for several minutes before coming back.
The China Academy – China based
The flight is planned in the year 2028 upto a distance of 60 miles in the space for around 20 tourists. The duration of the mission is around half and hour where a re-usable spacecraft would carry tourists to space and have them spend 10 minutes in the space darkness.
Energia – Russia based
People are already aboard for the trip and have the big bucks needed for the same. This trip is to be organized by Virginia based company space adventures using the Russian space craft and rockets.
The flight dates could be scheduled to as early as next year but it’s not fixed. The spacecraft called NEM-2 will be used to carry around 4 to 6 tourists at a time to the International Space station (ISS)
Space Hotel
Now, doesn’t even the thought of it thrill you? As much is going to space an epic level of thrill, so is living in a hotel located in space. Though the idea involves life risk there are companies that are vouching for creating one. One such ambitious startup is the USA based Orion Span. It has already announced its hopes of starting a luxury space hotel within a span of few years in space. Though the plan is under concept stage, it is very much on.
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*Sourced from the internet