66 April 2019 _ PopularMechanics.com ILLUSTRATION BY TODD DETWILERTHE TOURIST’S GUIDE TO SPACEHOW YOU
GET THERE
A decade ago, aspiring space tourists had only one option:
flying a Russian Soyuz capsule to the International Space
Station. These days an intrepid adventurer can look
forward to a plethora of spacecraft. At first they’ll be a
privilege of the wealthy, but the first civilian astronauts
will help bring costs down, democratizing space for
the rest of us. By Joe PappalardoINTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATIONVOYAGER
VOYAGER
World View
Enterprises
An eight-passenger
capsule suspended
from a high-altitude
balloon that rises
to just over 100,000
feet. It’s not really
spaceflight, but with
a view of the Earth’s
curvature, who cares?
Besides, the slow
ascent promises to
be much smoother
than strapping onto a
rocket. World View is
currently focused on
commercializ ing its
balloon for non-tourist
applications, and its
CEO said it would
ideally conduct at least
100 launches of their
existing, uncrewed
balloon before sending
people up.
WHEN
Mid-2020s (estimated)
PRICE
$75, 000
(reser ve now
with $7,500 down)
SPACESHIPTWO
Virgin Galactic
An airplane called
WhiteKnightTwo car-
ries the SpaceShipTwo
space plane to about
46,000 feet before
air-launching it. A pair
of pilots then fly the
rocket-powered craft
and its half-dozen
passengers to the edge
of space, where they
enjoy six minutes of
weightlessness before
strapping back into
their seats for a long
glide to a runway. The
first crewed flight to
space took place in
December 2018, and
since it went well, pay-
ing customers could
take off later in 2019.
WHEN
2019
PRICE
$250, 000NEW SHEPARD
Blue Origin
A flight on New
Shepard will last
11 epic minutes: A
pressurized capsule
takes six passengers
past the Kármán line
into suborbital space
at speeds of more than
Mach 3. Blue Origin has
said they are aiming for
flights early this year,
but tickets have not
yet been put on sale.
WHEN
2019
PRICE
$300, 000 (estimated)SUBORBITALSTARLINER
Boeing
Developed in collabor-
ation with NASA to
carry astronauts
to the International
Space Station, Boeing
executives say Star-
liner will be available
for other customers,
including tourists.
“We are working with
Space Adventures to
market available extra
seats on the Starliner,”
says Boeing spokes-
man Jerry Drelling,
referring to the pio-
neering tourism
company that has
already sent seven
private people to
space. “When we’re
ready to address
commer cial sales, we
will certainly be work ing
to provide competitively
priced seats in the
emerging low-Earth
orbit market.”
WHEN
TBD
COST
$58 million
(for NASA)CREW DRAGON
SpaceX
SpaceX should
begin carrying NASA
astronauts to the
International Space
Station this year. The
company has never
been shy about selling
tickets to tourists,
and their soon-to-be-
proven Crew Dragon
spacecraft will be a
logical ride for orbital
tourists with space
hotel reservations. Not
official, but if SpaceX’s
past is any guide,
a space tourist can
contact the company
and start talking
prices now.
WHEN
TBD
PRICE
TBDORBITALSTARLINER