History of space tourism

On April 30, 2001, US billionaire Dennis Tito entered the International Space Station (ISS) via Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft, becoming the world’s first space tourist.

Billionaire Dennis Tito on his return to Earth in May 2001. Photo: CNN CNN channel (USA) reported that billionaire Tito, then 60 years old, spent 20 million USD to realize his dream from a young age. In 1961, before the news that Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space, young Tito set a goal of life. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is not in favor of sending ordinary people into space. In 1991, not long after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Mr. Tito started negotiations with Moscow about going to space by “paying for tickets”. Tito recalls: “In the late 1990s, the Russians wanted more funding for the space program. So I realized I could find them.” On April 28, 2001, the Soyuz spacecraft was launched into space in Kazakhstan with 3 crew members including billionaire Tito and two Russian cosmonauts. Billionaire Tito then spent 8 days living on the ISS. Two decades later, billionaire Tito still vividly remembers: “The pencils flew and I could observe both the darkness of the universe as well as the curve of the Earth. I feel so relieved. It was the best time of my life, achieving my life goals… I hope that others experience the same wonderful things I have.” Since billionaire Tito’s space trip every year, only a few other tourists have had a similar experience. However, some US companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are betting on space tourism with the goal of making this form not too far away. These people all chose the space tourism program of the company Space Adventures, which uses Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to ferry passengers to the ISS. Since 2009, the space tourism program of Space Adventures has ceased to exist because the US Space Shuttle program is “retired” and only Russia’s Soyuz is the vehicle to carry astronauts to and from the ISS. However, a representative of Space Adventures said that once there is competition in the space tourism market, there will be price competition and in the future there will be many units participating in this field. Space Adventures maintains cooperation with the Russian space agency, and they are studying the possibility of a Soyuz launch to the ISS by 2023 with a program to create opportunities for tourists to walk in space. In addition, Space Adventures is planning a space tour in late 2021 via SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. NASA contributed funds to develop Crew Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner space capsule. However, both of these companies are privately owned and therefore have the right to sell seats on their spacecraft to anyone who can afford it. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon ship. Photo: CNN NASA has also changed its stance on space tourism since billionaire Tito’s historic trip. In 2019, NASA announced plans to open the ISS to visitors. Former NASA astronaut Jeffrey A. Hoffman, who now works in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, considers Tito’s 2001 trip to mark the “beginning of a new era” of space tourism”. Mr. Jeffrey A. Hoffman expects that the cost of space tourism will decrease as demand increases. He says that the main obstacle to space tourism is safety concerns. In 2014, a pilot was killed during a test flight of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo spacecraft. In addition, there have been records of rockets of SpaceX and Blue Origin – a company owned by Jeff Bezos, exploding during testing, fortunately no one was injured. According to the former astronaut, there is always an accident risk with air travel, but “a consistent safety record” will help this form of travel grow. May 2020 marks the first private spacecraft to launch NASA astronauts into space. It’s SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. The company expects by the end of 2021 to use Crew Dragon for a program exclusively for ordinary people with a price of 50 million USD per seat. SpaceX also hopes to plan a spacecraft called Starship to bring Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maeza and a group of artists to the Moon in 2023. In 2019, an American company called Gateway Foundation announced plans for a hotel project operating in the lower Earth’s atmosphere.