space tourism

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Virgin Galactic Space Tourist Bought His Ticket in 2005

The price has gone up since then

(Newser) - Virgin Galactic rocketed to the edge of space with its first tourists Thursday, including a former British Olympian who bought his ticket 18 years ago and a mother-daughter duo from the Caribbean. The space plane glided back to a runway landing at Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert, after...

Florida Moves to Shield Space Companies From Lawsuits

Passengers, crew members will be required to sign waiver before liftoff

(Newser) - The spaceflight industry is big business in Florida—and lawmakers have moved to protect space companies from getting sued if things go wrong. A bill passed by Florida lawmakers shields companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin from civil lawsuits if spacecraft passengers or crew members...

He Was a Space Tourist in 2001. He's Going Back

Dennis and Akito Tito to board SpaceX's second commercial flight around the moon

(Newser) - Dennis Tito hopes to become a space tourist once again. The 82-year-old aerospace engineer-turned-financial analyst who paid $20 million to Russia for a trip to the International Space Station in 2001 says he and his 57-year-old wife Akito have signed up for a SpaceX flight around the moon. Though it'...

3 Blast Off for Space Station Visit, Paying $55M Each

SpaceX provides the ride for tourists shelling out big bucks to NASA

(Newser) - SpaceX launched three rich businessmen and their astronaut escort to the International Space Station on Friday for more than a week’s stay, as NASA joins Russia in hosting guests at the world’s most expensive tourist destination. It’s SpaceX’s first private charter flight to the orbiting lab...

Real Winner of SpaceX Flight Comes Forward

Kyle Hippchen gave flight to friend because he exceeded weight limit

(Newser) - He told his family and a few friends. He dropped hints to a couple of colleagues. So hardly anyone knew that the airline pilot could have—should have—been on board when SpaceX launched its first tourists into orbit last year. Meet Kyle Hippchen, the real winner of a first-of-its-kind...

ISS About to Open Doors to a Rare Guest

Expect to hear from billionaire space tourist Yusaku Maezawa on YouTube, Twitter

(Newser) - Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has been launched into space on what CNN calls “the first self-funded tourism mission to the International Space Station in a decade." "In total, seven self-funded individuals have visited the space station and Mr. Maezawa plans to be the 8th and the first...

Another Billionaire Has Safely Sent Tourists Into Space

SpaceX crew first all-amateur group to circle Earth

(Newser) - Four space tourists safely ended their trailblazing trip to orbit Saturday with a splashdown in the Atlantic off the Florida coast, per the AP . Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the ocean just before sunset, not far from where their chartered flight began three days earlier. The all-amateur crew was the...

And They're Off: SpaceX Launch Makes History

Inspiration4 mission sends 4 space tourists into orbit

(Newser) - SpaceX’s first private flight blasted off Wednesday night with two contest winners, a health care worker, and their rich sponsor, the most ambitious leap yet in space tourism. It was the first time a rocket streaked toward orbit with an all-amateur crew—no professional astronauts. The Dragon capsule’s...

Advice to Bezos, Branson: 'Read the Room'
Advice to Bezos, Branson:
'Read the Room'
OPINION
Jul 9, 2021 1:11 PM CDT

Advice to Bezos, Branson: 'Read the Room'

Critics weigh in on the billionaires' space race

(Newser) - With Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos planning their first trips to space as dangerous heat waves intensify, some people suspect the billionaires are planning futures off the planet. Not going to happen, says Sim Kern in an essay at Salon . "As a scifi writer and the spouse of a...

First Private Space Station Crew Will Pay $55M Each

First private flight to ISS will launch next year

(Newser) - The first private space station crew was introduced Tuesday: Three men who are each paying $55 million to fly on a SpaceX rocket. They'll be led by a former NASA astronaut now working for Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the trip for next January. "This is...

Take a Peek Inside Virgin Galactic's Space Plane

It includes plenty of windows and cameras to capture the $250K experience

(Newser) - Virgin Galactic has offered a look inside its tourist space plane for those of us who can't afford the $250,000 ticket. The six-passenger SpaceShipTwo, a collaboration with London design agency Seymourpowell, is designed entirely around "the view of Earth from space," explains chief space officer George...

Billionaire Seeks Nice Girl for Long Walks, Trip Around Moon

Maezawa is on the prowl for a girlfriend to take on first private space tourism flight in 2023

(Newser) - When last we saw Yusaku Maezawa, he was giving away $9 million in a "serious social experiment," and making record-setting tweets . Now, he's just a simple Japanese billionaire looking for a love that he wants to take literally out of this world. As Reuters reports, the man...

'Spaceport America' Unveiled
'Spaceport America' Unveiled
Aug 16, 2019 12:21 AM CDT

'Spaceport America' Unveiled

Virgin Galactic plans to launch thousands of tourists from New Mexico facility

(Newser) - Spaceport America is no longer just a shiny shell of hope that space tourism would one day launch from a remote spot in the New Mexico desert. The once-empty hangar that anchors the taxpayer-financed launch and landing facility has been transformed into a custom-tailored headquarters where Virgin Galactic will run...

Space Station to Accept Tourists, Moviemakers

Private astronauts get the green light, starting next year

(Newser) - Get in line for the International Space Station. Starting in 2020, NASA will send private astronauts to ISS for up to 30 days, as part of a plan to open the 20-year-old station to tourism and other business ventures. Commercializing the ISS "will enable NASA to focus resources to...

Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Reaches Space

It's a big milestone for the commercial space industry

(Newser) - Virgin Galactic has officially reached space. Sir Richard Branson's company launched a spacecraft more than 50 miles into the air Thursday, not reaching orbit but successfully meeting the Federal Aviation Administration's definition of space, the Washington Post reports. It was the first spacecraft with humans aboard to be...

SpaceX Flying 2 Space Tourists Around the Moon Next Year

Elon Musk makes 'surprising' announcement Monday

(Newser) - SpaceX says it will fly two people to the moon next year, a feat not attempted since NASA's Apollo heyday close to half a century ago, the AP reports. Tech billionaire Elon Musk—the company's founder—announced the surprising news Monday. Two people who know one another approached...

Virgin Galactic Rolls Out New Space Tourism Craft

A deadly accident destroyed its predecessor

(Newser) - Virgin Galactic rolled out a new version of its SpaceShipTwo space tourism rocket Friday as it prepares to return to flight testing for the first time since a 2014 accident destroyed the original craft , killing a pilot and setting back the nascent industry. A Land Rover with Virgin Galactic founder...

Company Gets Patent for 12-Mile-High Space Elevator

Canadian company Thoth gets a patent for a 12-mile-high tower into space

(Newser) - A Canadian company best known for building tiny objects suitable for outer space has just earned a US patent on something distinctly grander: a 12-mile-high inflatable space elevator held up not by cables but by pressurized segments, reports fastcoexist.com . That's more than 20 times taller than the world’...

Branson: I'll Still Be on Virgin's First Spaceflight

Dangers involved are 'worth it'

(Newser) - The crash of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo on Friday has unsurprisingly failed to deter Richard Branson: He'll still be on his company's first flight to space, he tells CNN. "There is no way I would ask others to go on a Virgin Galactic flight if I didn'...

Virgin Galactic Spacecraft Was Testing New Fuel

NTSB begins investigation as Richard Branson arrives in Mojave

(Newser) - The National Transportation Safety Board has taken the lead in trying to figure out what doomed Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo yesterday , and the Los Angeles Times notes that it's a milestone of sorts in the new world of commercial space travel. This marks the first time the NTSB has...

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