Historically, going into space has always been part of a government-backed effort that requires extensive training, funding, and a justified mission. A group of commercial space companies are vowing to change that.
From a Space Perspective balloon excursion into the stratosphere to a suborbital thrill ride on Virgin Galactic to a week-long Axiom stay on the International Space Station (ISS), special space travel packages offer a myriad of experiences at every altitude. It is available to anyone who can afford a price range of $100,000 to $50 million.
Most human spaceflight companies are still a few years away from traveling regularly for paying customers. But they are already attracting potential clients and, in the wake of potential passengers, luxury travel brokers who believe space tourism is the next big quest for the wealthy.
For the space industry, travel agents can help them find clients in a narrow segment of the population with the means and interest in going into space. And for the affluent curious about a short trip to orbit, a space travel agent can handle the messy process of checking the vendor, negotiating the price, and booking tickets.
Luxury Travel Agents Sell Space Tickets
SpaceVIP, a service launched in early 2021 by Roman Chiburukha, a New York-based consultant who helps wealthy people plan vacations, has booked three group trips with Space Perspective, a Florida startup that offers a slow-speed trip to the stratosphere in a balloon-lifted sightseeing capsule Hydrogen-filled giant.
The entire flight takes about six hours, including two hours of flying at a peak altitude of about 100,000 feet (19 miles) — not technically an area, but still three times higher than where commercial airliners fly. Because both the ascent and descent are slow, the flight requires no training. In the space tourism community, Space Perspective is seen as a nice – and cheaper – alternative to the 90-minute suborbital Virgin Galactic flight, which requires basic astronaut training. Jane Poynter, co-founder of Space Perspective, said many of the customers on her company’s booking list are also future travelers with Virgin Galactic.
SpaceVIP says it can help secure tickets for 11 different space travel programs. Chiburukha said programs that can be completed in a day and require minimal training such as those offered by Space Perspective and Virgin Galactic are the most popular among his clients, and he expects tickets to sell out quickly once regular flights begin. (Virgin Galactic says it has booked more than 700 reservations. Space Perspective said it has more than 600 people on its reservation list.) Chiporukha was one of the early birds.
Space Perspective expects to launch its first paying customer sometime in 2024. Chiporukha said SpaceVIP hasn’t found enough passengers to fill the three flights (24 seats) it’s booked, but wants to “ensure full inventory” for future customers, particularly those who They want to fly in groups. “They may want to travel with seven of their friends before a certain date, but only two are available,” said Cheburukha.
Space Perspective costs $125,000 per person, while Virgin Galactic charges $450,000 (recently raised from $250,000). Although not insignificant amounts, both price points have huge addressable markets: it is estimated that more than 2.4 million people in the world can afford them. “There is a real appetite for these experiences,” Chiburukha said.
On the seller side of the business, especially at the higher end of the price range, some space companies rely on intermediaries to help find customers.
Rey Flemings, a consultant who manages the real estate and lifestyle needs of the ultra-wealthy, helps Axiom Space, a Houston-based startup proposing to build a commercial space station, and research passengers willing to spend $60 million on vacation to the International Space Station. So far, he’s coordinating a flight for a potential astronaut. “There aren’t many people who have $60 million,” Flemings said with a laugh.
In November 2020, before SpaceVIP was officially launched, Chiporukha helped find a passenger on a 10-day trip to the International Space Station using the SpaceX Crew Dragon launch system organized by Space Adventures, A space tourism company based in Washington, DC. The mission was canceled in October 2021 due to the expiration of Space Adventures’ contract with SpaceX.
Brokers do more than just book tickets
Recently, Virgin Galactic opened ticket reservations to the public. Space Perspective markets its service in a similar way. But even with online tickets available, there is still a place for intermediaries.
The main reasons are the huge amount of money involved and the nascent nature of space tourism. Most companies that offer civilian spaceflight have little track record, and their businesses depend on a relatively small group of customers who commit huge amounts of money for future service.
Flemings subsidiary Myria screens buyers and sellers before booking a flight. Every person must undergo identity checks, net worth checks, availability of funds, and anti-money laundering checks. Throughout the coordination process, buyers and sellers are asked to continually rate each other for ‘niceness’ or how easy it is to work with them.
“Everyone has been thoroughly vetted, which greatly reduces fraud risk and encourages better behavior in everyone,” Flemings said. “Sellers can rest assured that every buyer is fully qualified, interested and able to close the transaction.”
Another job of travel agents is to find the perfect mix of activities for every budget. Since most subtropical and high altitude programs are not yet available, these brokers help clients find Earth-bound alternatives, such as training in centrifuge simulators and living in artificial “biomes” that simulate an extraterrestrial planetary environment.
For a beginner budget of $100,000, for example, Chiporukha of SpaceVIP recommends starting with a zero-gravity flight and then a centrifugal simulation training program (both cost under $10,000). Some of these programs are also prerequisites for sub-orbital and orbital flights. If there’s enough money left, he recommends booking a seat using Space Perspective.
Justify the waste
Many aspiring space tourists say what excites them most about going to space is the so-called “overview effect,” a mind-altering experience reported by some astronauts after they saw first-hand the reality of Earth from outer space and realized how fragile and small our planet is. The grand scale of the universe.
“As many of the astronauts have said, it changed their view,” said Sharon Hagel, a Virgin Galactic customer who booked tickets for herself and her husband, Mark Hagel, in 2007. The pair were also Blue Origin clients of Jeff Bezos. They flew into space with three other passengers on Blue Origin’s fourth human spaceflight on March 31.
For the super-rich, it probably isn’t too hard to justify the price of a short trip into space. This community routinely spends more than $1 million on vacations anyway, Flemings said. However, many feel the need to allocate some sort of higher purpose to their space travels, especially considering that nowadays civilian spaceflights are often a high profile event rather than as secretive as a party on a luxury yacht.
“When you get to the point of being able to afford a million dollar experience, the price becomes less important than what you are trying to achieve and how other people feel about it,” Flemings said.
Flemings believes that the early-stage space tourism industry could open the door to what he calls “experimental philanthropy,” in which wealthy clients contribute some of their vacation money to more rewarding projects such as scientific research. “There are countless research projects in space that could use additional funding,” he said.
Hagel made her fortune in real estate and now runs SpaceKids Global, an educational nonprofit focused on encouraging elementary students to pursue careers in STEAM fields (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics).
“When I return, I want to share the experience with primary school children and inspire the next generation. That’s what Space Kids Global is all about,” she said before her Blue Origin trip. She has five grandchildren between the ages of 5 and 18.
