Space tourism is a type of commercial space travel. It could involve rocket launch or stargazing. It could also comprise travel to a space location like the International Space Station. It may also include suborbital flights aboard the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo as well as reusable vehicles such as the Blue Origin New Shepard.
The term»space tourist» has a wider definition than simply tourism, as it also encompasses people who are on a mission to conduct research in science or to offer other services. Dennis Tito, along with other multimillionaires paid $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station. Since then, a number of companies have sprung up to offer a variety of space tourism experiences.
In recent years the majority of the companies that offer space tourism have aimed to fly passengers who pay near-space using their own reusable rockets. However some companies have plans to offer longer orbital flights into space, too.
It is essential to prepare for a spaceflight by knowing everything you can about the spacecraft and the flight as well as the astronauts. It is also useful to determine if you’ll test what some astronauts or Cosmonauts call «stupid astronaut tricks» like flips or spins in weightlessness, and what souvenirs you’ll take with you (such as a college pennant as U.S. astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford famously did on their Gemini VI spacecraft with a «Beat Army» sign).
As space tourism gains popularity, it is probable that companies will increase their fleets, and develop new spacecraft for both tourism and longer-duration trips. It is also possible that prices for these trips will decrease as the industry develops.