Space tourism is commercial space travel. It can involve watching an explosion, to the stars, or even going to a space-related destination such as the International Space Station. In addition, it may also include trips into near-space using reusable vehicles such as the Blue Origin New Shepard or a suborbital flight on the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo.

The term is used to describe more than just tourists since it also includes those who are pursuing scientific research or other services. Dennis Tito, along with other millionaires, paid $20 million for a trip in 2001 to the International Space Station. Since then, a multitude of companies have sprung up to offer a variety of space tourism experiences.

As of late, the majority of the companies offering space tourism have a goal to allow paying passengers on flights into near-space with their reusable rockets. Some companies are planning to offer longer-duration flights into orbit.

It is important to prepare yourself for a spaceflight by learning all you can about the vehicle and flight, as well as the astronauts. It is also beneficial to decide if you want to test what some astronauts or Cosmonauts refer to as “stupid astronaut tricks” like flips or spins in weightlessness, and what souvenirs you’ll carry www.ostsee-frei.de/new-technology-for-space-tourism with you (such as a pennant for a college as U.S. astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford famously did on their Gemini VI spacecraft with a “Beat Army” sign).

As space tourism grows in popularity, it is likely companies will expand their fleets, and develop new spacecraft to accommodate tourism and longer-duration trips. It is also possible that the prices for these trips will drop as the industry matures.