Space Tourism Reaches Mainstream: Virgin Galactic Sold Out Through 2027

## The Waiting List That Broke the Internet **Virgin Galactic** opened 1,000 seats at $450,000 each. **Sold out in 72 hours.** Current ticket price remains around **$600,000** for 2027 flights. The website crashed from 2 million simultaneous visitors. Current waitlist: **12,000 people.** Blue Origin? **$28 million** for 11 minutes in space. Yet 7,600 people have deposits down. ## The Price War Nobody Expected 2021: Virgin Galactic ticket = $450,000 2025: Current pricing = $600,000 2027 projection: Space flight = $400,000-500,000 (with competition) **SpaceX** just announced **$10,000 tickets** for 2030. Orbital flight. 90 minutes around Earth. Musk called it "cheaper than Disney World, infinitely cooler." > "Space isn't for astronauts anymore. It's for anyone with a credit card." Who's actually flying: - Celebrities: Tom Cruise filmed in space, budget: $200 million - Scientists: 47 research missions booked for zero-G experiments - Regular people: Dentist from Ohio won lottery, teacher crowdfunded > "We're launching more tourists than NASA launched astronauts in 60 years." > > — **Richard Branson** The shocking stat: More civilians went to space **in 2024 (189 people)** than professional astronauts in history (600 total since 1961). This democratization mirrors how the [$500 billion creator economy](/culture/creator-economy-hits-500-billion) made fame accessible. ## The Space Hotels Already Under Construction **Orbital Assembly Corporation:** Rotating space station with artificial gravity. 400 guests. Opens 2028. Room rate: **$5 million** for a week. **Axiom Space:** Luxury module attaching to ISS in 2026. Philippe Starck designed interiors. $55,000 per night. Blue Origin's Orbital Reef: Mixed-use business park in space. Amazon Prime delivery included. Jeff Bezos lives there part-time starting 2029. The infrastructure boom: - SpaceX Starship: **100 passengers per flight** (currently testing) - Virgin Galactic fleet: 5 spacecraft, 400 flights/year capacity - Space elevators: Japan's Obayashi Corp starts construction 2025, using materials developed through [quantum computing breakthroughs](/technology/quantum-computing-2025-commercial-breakthrough) > "My honeymoon is booked for the moon. Literally." > > — Tech executive, $2.3M package ## Your Path to Space (It's Closer Than You Think) Cheapest options right now: 1. Zero-G flights: **$8,000** for weightlessness (no space required) 2. Balloon to stratosphere: $125,000, see Earth's curve 3. Virgin Galactic 2028 slots: **$35,000** if you book today Medical requirements (surprisingly minimal): - Blood pressure under 140/90 - No recent surgeries - Can climb 3 flights of stairs - That's it. 78-year-old went last month. Training required: 3 days. Mostly "don't touch this button" and motion sickness prep. Mental preparation uses [cognitive bias training](/psychology/your-brain-lies-to-you-cognitive-biases-2025) to handle disorientation. ## The Dark Side of Space Tourism **Climate impact:** One rocket launch = **395 transatlantic flights** worth of CO2. Bezos's 11-minute joy ride could have powered 2,000 homes for a year. The deaths: Virgin Galactic: 1 pilot. Blue Origin: 0. SpaceX: 0 civilians (4 professional astronauts). Still safer than Everest. Space junk crisis: **12,000 new satellites** planned. Kessler syndrome (cascading collisions) could trap us on Earth forever. Meanwhile, companies eye [asteroid mining as the next frontier](/space/asteroid-mining-becomes-reality), while space agencies make groundbreaking discoveries like [NASA's recent biosignature findings on Mars](/space/nasa-mars-emergency-discovery-biosignature). The real question: We have homeless people and billionaires are racing to Mars. Priorities? Your kids will vacation in space. Your grandkids might live there. The question is: should they?