Aside from wacky billionaires who the companies, is there really a big demand or market of moderately average people that are anxious to fly into space?
Maybe not.
Space tourism isn’t really an industry yet, despite what Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson want to believe. That’s not an opinion, it’s a fact. There’s proof.
The most established player in the space tourism business is called Space Adventure. They were scheduled to send rich, ordinary people into space on a SpaceX mission.
The were all set, ready to roll.The only problem is they couldn’t find anyone that wanted to shell out the money and actually do the trip. Here’s what company spokesperson Stacey Tearne told SpaceNews.
“The mission was marketed to a large number of our prospective customers, but ultimately the mix of price, timing and experience wasn’t right at that particular time and our contract with SpaceX expired. We hope to revisit the offering in the future.”
Don’t hold your breath Stacey.
Remember the launch into space last month for a mission called Inspiration4? It sent four amateur astronauts, aka tourists, in the SpaceX Dragon capsule for a three-day jaunt along with the professional crew.
Well, the toilet had major issues and people got sick on board. The cost of that mission was near $200 million. So, the market that companies like Space Adventure have to cast a net into is people who are exceptionally wealthy, that can tolerate discomforts for multiple days, and are very, very healthy.
The company apparently has found one person that fits those qualifications. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is flying to the International Space Station in December.
Have fun.
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