Want to be a space tourist? This is how much it will cost you

The era of space tourism has begun with Richard Branson blasting off to space in his Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity on July 11. This is the company’s first fully-crewed rocket-powered test flight.

In fact, the business magnate was 9 days ahead of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who plans to travel to the edge of space on July 20 in Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft.

Do you want to be a space tourist with SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic? You’ll get spacesuits, sleeping bags and sometimes Jeff Bezos as your travel buddy. 

What it will take for commercial tourists to fly into space

Now that space tourism is a thing, don’t think it will come cheap. Space travel on Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity will cost passengers $250,000 per trip.

A seat on Blue Origin’s New Shepard craft will cost about $28 million.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon will be flying 4 passengers to the International Space Station in 2022 and the cost includes a cool $55 million per head.

You get what you pay for 

Travel with SpaceX and Axiom

A ticket for Axiom’s mission to the ISS comes with:

• Training
• Planning
• Life support
• Medical support
• Provisions for crew
• Eight days in space with the ISS

If you want to stay on the ISS, it will cost up to $6.8 million a day. But according to NASA’s 2021 price list, it should cost $2,000 per crew member per day for food and drinks aboard the ISS. Additional costs include $1,500 per day for clothing, hygiene products, office supplies and sleeping bags.

Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic is founded by Sir Richard Branson. And over 600 customers have already forked out up to $250,000 to get a seat on Virgin Galactic’s Unity spacecraft, which will take them to the edge of space.

A Virgin Galactic ticket includes:

• The flight
• Training
• A spacesuit

Blue Origin

Blue Origin’s 11-minute trip on the New Shepard craft costs about $28 million for Jeff Bezos, his brother and winner of the Blue Origin auction. The ticket includes 

• Training
• Flight charges
• Accommodation on-site

Blue Origin’s New Shepard hasn’t disclosed prices for commercial seats.

Here’s what qualifies you to be a space tourist

Before stepping aboard, passengers must show that they 

• Aren’t afraid of heights
• Can walk on uneven surfaces 
• Support three times their weight

Travelers will go through a couple of days of training in advance of the flight. Some of the training includes learning how to get in and out of the capsule, a mission simulation and techniques to move around in zero gravity.