Virgin Will Now Fly You To Space For $450,000 Per Ticket
You can either buy a house or go to space. Your call.
After years of promise and talking about the potential of commercial space travel, the new frontier of travel is just around the corner. Virgin Galactic is finally beginning long-promised commercial spaceflight services. But when can you hop on a flight to space? Here’s what you need to know.
According to Virgin Galactic, the first tourist flight to space takes off at the end of June.
The first launch won’t be full of people paying for a ticket, though. Called Galactic 01, the flight is supposed to launch between June 27 and June 30, barring any delay. This flight will include three members of the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy who will go up to the edge of space to “conduct microgravity research.”
“We are launching the first commercial spaceline for Earth with two dynamic products — our scientific research and private astronaut space missions,” Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement.
After that, commercial flights will be opened up to nonprofessionals — at least of the very wealthy variety. If this is something that might interest you, the ticket price to be one of the four passengers on these flights will run you approximately $450,000. But the hope is that with more flights that happen, the cheaper they will become.
Virgin estimates that the first real commercial spaceflight, for us regular joes who can afford the price tag, will happen in August 2023, with "monthly spaceflights expected thereafter."
According to BBC News, Virgin Galactic has sold more than 800 tickets for these commercial space flights. Passengers will be flown over 260,000 feet above Earth.
“The flights are designed to give passengers views from space at the top of its climb and allow them a few minutes to experience weightlessness,” the report notes. So while you might be able to fly to space, don’t expect to stay there long.
There are no details on who is slated to be on the first official commercial fight in August, but those details are likely to be made known as the date approaches.
