The billion-dollar space tourism industry offers trips into microgravity conditions for recreation rather than scientific research. At a cost of hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of dollars, space tourists can purchase a seat from several space travel agencies to experience the overview effect—the documented sense of awe associated with viewing the entire world at once.
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SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule Resilience spent five days in low Earth orbit as part of the first of three planned missions under the name Polaris Dawn. The historic journey took participants farther away from our planet than anyone has been since the Apollo missions.
NASA refused to take Dennis Tito, who had no formal training as an astronaut, up to the International Space Station. Instead, the American engineer and entrepreneur traveled aboard the Soyuz TM-32 mission and described the initial experience of microgravity after engine shutoff as the "most spectacular" part of the flight.
On that day, American businessman Dennis Tito became the first paying passenger to visit space, spending a week aboard the International Space Station. Since then, space participants have been members of sub-orbital flights, which do not require intensive training to prepare for.
The rocket-powered aircraft was built by Richard Branson’s company, Virgin Galactic. The English business magnate has described being inspired to go to space since he was a child watching NASA's moon landings.
Astronauts regularly report profound realizations after seeing Earth from space for the first time, sometimes prompting significant philosophical changes, including a greater awareness of the interconnectedness and fragility of life.
From recovering and reusing rocket components to launching a mannequin and Tesla into orbit to the tune of David Bowie's "Starman," Elon Musk drove public interest and government contracts to his company as he transformed space launches into spectacles.
The cost of one SpaceX launch today is estimated to cost 97% less than the price of a Russian Soyuz rocket in the 1960s, a price reduction providing access to many smaller manufacturers and transforming the industry.
Private space tourism agency Space Adventures held a monopoly on space tourism for the industry’s first decade, but everything changed when four more major players entered the stage in the early 2020s. Who are the key players in the space tourism industry, and how many space tourists have there been since the first in 2001? Explore space tourism by the numbers in this article by Space Insider.
Because conditions on Mars are pretty extreme for humanity, we tend not to think about living there, since everywhere on Mars feels a bit threatening. This imaginative essay uses current geographical knowledge of Mars to visualize what it would look like if humanity could alter its climate to make it widely habitable, a process known to sci-fi readers as terraforming. Given that transformation, where would the hottest neighborhoods be located?
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