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SpaceX is part of a handful of companies that are racing to propel tourists into space. Here are the main projects in progress and what they involve.
Moon Orbit: SpaceX
The Californian company led by magnate Elon Musk announced plans Thursday to send a passenger in lunar orbit aboard a monster rocket, called the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), still in development.
The cost of the last trip, its schedule and the identity of the passenger are unknown for the moment. Details must be released Monday.
SpaceX has already touted Moon's tourism projects – with an announcement in 2017 that two people would be launched in 2018 – but the company has been silent on these plans in recent months.
The trip would mark the first journey of humanity to the moon since the last Apollo astronauts were there in 1972.
Only 24 people left earth orbit and traveled near the moon.
Virgin Galactic
Virgin GalacticFounded by British billionaire Richard Branson, it strives to transport tourists on a short journey into space, tens of kilometers above the surface of the Earth.
Tourists will spend several minutes floating in weightlessness, aboard a spacecraft that approaches or crosses the Karman Line, at the limit of the Earth's atmosphere and space, to about 100 km of altitude.
For comparison, astronauts in orbit International Space Station fly about 400 km above the ground.
The plans provide for six passengers and two pilots to pilot the SpaceShipTwo VSS unit, which looks like a private jet.
The VSS unit will be attached to a carrier spacecraft – the WhiteKnightTwo – from which it will detach itself at around 15,000 meters.
Once released, the spacecraft will launch its rocket and move towards the sky.
Passengers will float in weightlessness for several minutes before returning to Earth.
The total journey time would be between 90 minutes and two hours.
Cost: $ 250,000 per ticket. Timing: to be determined.
Blue origin
Blue Origin, the rocket company created by Amazon's founder, Jeff Bezos, also plans to send up to six passengers in a short trip into space aboard the ship. New Shepard, a capsule attached to the top of a rocket 18 meters (60 feet).
After the launch, it detaches and continues for several kilometers to the sky. In a test on April 29, the capsule was 66 miles.
After a few minutes of weightlessness, the capsule gradually falls back to Earth with three large parachutes and mirrors used to slow down the spacecraft.
From takeoff to landing, the trip takes about 10 minutes.
The schedule of the first flights and the cost per ticket have not been announced.
The armchair astronaut. Image Courtesy: NASA / JLP
China
The Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology is striving to send its first tourists on a suborbital journey some 60 miles high.
The first flight could take place by 2028, on a reusable spacecraft that can accommodate up to 20 people.
The total duration of the mission would be about 30 minutes, with 10 minutes in the darkness of space, in weightlessness and seeing the curvature of the Earth through the windows.
Price: about $ 200,000.
Russia
Seven people have already paid a lot of money for a space trip, organized by Space Adventures, based in Virginia, and boarded Russian rockets and spacecraft.
The first tourist in space was the American businessman Dennis Tito, a multimillionaire who would have paid $ 20 million to drive a Soyuz and visit the International Space Station in 2001.
The Russian space company Energia is reportedly working on a new spacecraft called NEM-2 to transport tourists to the international space station.
Four to six people can travel at a time and the first flights could take place as early as 2019.
Tourists who pay for space may even be able to float in the void of space during short walks in space.
A firm price has not been set, but it should cost about $ 100 million.
Space Hotel
An American start-up called Orion Span announced earlier this year that she hoped to orbit a luxury hotel in a few years, but the project is still in its infancy.
Why travel in space?
The trip would be exciting, certainly, but also risky. Rockets can and can sometimes explode, after all.
In the absence of technical breakdowns from the machines, the health of tourists could be a factor, and it remains to be seen if people with heart problems or circulatory problems would be allowed to fly.
Beyond that, astronauts often report severe motion sickness during the ascent into space, and tourists should not be different.
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