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Space Travel



How can you travel to space?

Space: the final frontier. Space tourism was something that people dreamt about. It was a fantasy, something that you could only see in movies and television shows. There are multiple companies working on space travel. The most well known companies for space tourism are:
  • Virgin Galactic, an American-based, British-owned commercial spaceflight company.
  • SpaceX, a private company founded in 2002 by CEO and Lead Designer Elon Musk. The company has more than 6,000 employees at its headquarters in Hawthorne, CA
  • Blue Origin, a private company founded in 2000 by Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos. The company has more than 3,500 employees at its headquarters in Kent, WA

For Virgin Galactic, the spacecraft is built from lightweight carbon composite materials and is powered by a hybrid rocket motor. Each spaceship can carry eight people, two pilots and six passengers. You will leave from Spaceport America in Mexico. Upon takeoff, you will feel the power of the incredible speed of the spacecraft traveling at 2500mph. The spacecraft will reach 110 kilometers above sea level. Once it reaches suborbital space, the engine will be turned off and you will get to admire the curvature of Earth. You will also experience six minute of weightlessness before descending back to Earth. The journey will last for approximately two and a half hour.

If you want to travel to space, you may want to start saving up because it is going to be an expensive flight. Each trip costs USD $250,000 per person. Reservation is required and you will need to pay a USD $20,000 deposit. Some of the more well known space tourists who have already reserved their seats include Ashton Kutcher, Tom Hanks and Angelina Jolie.

The price includes 3 days of pre-flight training at Spaceport America in New Mexico, United States. Training will include familiarization of the space craft, basic emergency response training as well as physical and mental preparation for the spaceflight. Although the health requirements are not especially stringent, you are required to pass medical tests before you can fly.

If you have the money, it is going to be an experience of a life time.



With SpaceX and Blue Origin, both companies will take you higher up into space, and the trip will last longer. However, they have not officially posted their prices yet, and is by inivitation only. However, in their initial flights, prices were in the millions. So, unless you have a few million dollars to spare, you probably won't be going with them.