Reusability may bring a space tourism boom in the 2020s

Widespread space tourism seems like science fiction, but there are several companies working hard to make it a reality. It won’t happen today, not even the day after that, but after writing about Virgin Galactic’s plans, I think it’s timely to look at the dreams of others, like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. And it might be closer than we think.

Pioneering space tourism was something unimaginable just some decades ago. Why? Because the first (and so far, only) private space trips were the result of an interesting marriage between the Americans and the Russians.

The US based company, Space Adventures, was the first firm to sell trips to space, but to do so they had to use Russian Soyuz rockets. They had 7 clients, all of them had their trainings in Star City. Their 8 successful trips — which each costed somewhere between $20–40 million US — also launched from Russia. This figure will be important later.

They have the reusable Crew Dragon spacecraft under testing. This can accommodate 4–7 people and could be used for space tourism as well. They’re also working hard on testing their different, reusable rockets (like Space Falcon), which could make space launches a lot cheaper than they are now.

The world’s (second) richest person, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also joined the space tourism business. His company, Blue Origin is working hard on New Shepard, a space rocket with its detachable capsule that can take 6 people to a short, 11-minute orbital flight before reentering the atmosphere. This will enable the passengers to see the Earth’s curvature.

The capsule and the rocket reenters on its own, so both will be reusable. Which again is a super important cost-saving measure.

That’s a demand that can supercharge space tourism. No wonder Virgin Galactic is getting ready for manned flights. Blue Origin may start manned missions as soon as next year. SpaceX plans to send a Japanese billionaire to the Moon as soon as 2023.

So, to put it short: the Musk, Bezos, Branson triumvirate may really bring the space tourism boom in the next decade.

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