Space Tourism

Blue Origin has nailed the first human flight of New Shepard, taking company founder Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, 82-year-old Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen on a brief jaunt to space.

Blue Origin announced today that the fourth and final passenger on the first human flight of New Shepard is 18-year-old Oliver Daemen. Replacing the anonymous auction bidder who won the seat, Daemen will be the youngest person ever to fly into space.

British billionaire Sir Richard Branson almost, but not quite, flew into space today as a passenger aboard the privately built and operated Virgin Galactic spaceplane, VSS Unity, which took off from Spaceport America, New Mexico at about 10:30 am EDT.

Virgin Galactic is set to carry passengers into space on its spaceplane VSS Unity for the first time. The flight window for the mission, which will consist of two pilots and four mission specialists, including Sir Richard Branson, opens on July 11.

Blue Origin has announced 82-year-old space pioneer Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk will fill the fourth seat on New Shepard's first passenger flight. A participant in the 1960s Woman in Space program, she will be the oldest person to ever fly into space.

Virgin Galactic has made history, becoming the first spaceliner to be certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration to carry passengers on its spaceplanes. The approval comes as the company prepares for its first fully crewed test flight.

Cape Canaveral's Space Perspective has officially started selling tickets for the highest balloon ride of them all: a six-hour floating journey to the edge of space, where you can watch the sunrise. At US$125,000 a seat, flights start in 2024.

The first paying seat on Blue Origin's initial New Shepard passenger flight into space has sold at auction for an eye-watering US$28 million. The telephone auction was conducted by RR Auction and involved 7,600 bidders from 159 countries.

Fresh off the first flight to space from its new headquarters in New Mexico, Virgin Galactic has revealed plans to send a citizen scientist along for a future ride, through a deal with researcher and social-media personality Kellie Gerardi.

Virgin Galactic has put a recent setback behind it to reach space for only the third time in its history, and the first time since relocating to its new Spaceport America base in New Mexico last year.

Virgin Galactic has wheeled out the next-generation version of the vehicle designed to carry human tourists into space, showing off a shimmering, mirror-like spaceship named the VSS Imagine that features a modular design.

California's Orbital Assembly Corporation reckons it will soon have the solar system's first luxury space hotel open in orbit, offering spacewalks, Beyonce concerts and fine dining to space tourists at prices near US$5 million per three and a half days.