Space Tourism

Blood samples taken from Russian cosmonauts before and after long stints on the ISS have revealed elevations of biomarkers that could indicate brain damage, adding to a growing body of research highlighting the deleterious effects of space travel.

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 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.

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.

A year after it was selected to supply the first private module for the International Space Station, Axiom Space has announced that it has selected the crew for the first-ever all private crewed orbital space mission.

A serious-looking consortium of businesses is trying to position Japan as the first Asian space tourism hub, by proposing a futuristic, floating "Spaceport Japan" from which services like Virgin Galactic can operate their sub-orbital joyrides.

RSC Energia and Space Adventures, Inc plan to fly two tourists to the Russian section of the International Space Station in 2023, with one of them embarking on a space walk with a cosmonaut during the short visit.

In recent years, people have used balloons to carry items ranging from teddy bears to chicken sandwiches to the edge of outer space. Now, Florida-based startup Space Perspective has announced plans to do the same thing with paying human passengers.

Virgin Galactic has become the first passenger-carrying spaceflight company to be publicly traded. Shares of new Virgin Galactic Holdings company were bought and sold on the New York Stock exchange on October 28, 2019, under the stock ticker SPCE.

Virgin Galactic has unveiled its new line of "spacewear" to be worn by the company's first commercial astronauts at a New York catwalk event where Sir Richard Branson sported the outfit he will wear for the company's inaugural commercial spaceflight.