Private space travel is a trendy query for the last decade due to personal interest, TV shows, movies, and books. Private space travel is also referred as space tourism or space flight for entertainment purposes. People have always dreamed to visit the space for many years. “Private space travel,” according to a space dictionary, has a broader scope because it includes flying to orbit as a tourist, watching a shuttle launch, or astronomy. Several organizations are already providing space travel services to orbit, sub orbit, Moon, and Mars. These companies are trying to capture the space market by launching advance level space missions.
Beginning of Space Travel
After many years of predictions that were never fulfilled, private space travel comes true, with small duration flights on privately financed ships. In 2021, many of the world’s richest people traveled to orbit. In 2021, three private flights took the richest people into space. On July 11, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) took six passengers to a 90-minute suborbital flight. Although the American govt. considers space boundary beginning from 80 Kms above Earth. SpaceShipTwo (SS2) got a maximum altitude of 86Km. Sir Richard Branson, the owner of Virgin Galactic, was also on this first space travel flight. According to the international aeronautical definition, the edge of space lies 100 km above the earth. According to the American govt. definition, Branson was very lucky because he became the first individual to travel space on a spaceship built by his own organization.
Blue Origin’s Contribution
On July 20, Amazon owner Jeff Bezos along with three other crews took a suborbital flight beyond the Kármán line onboard his company Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft. Although he flew higher than SpaceShipTwo (SS2) at 107 kilometers, his trip was shorter at 11 minutes. They also experienced zero gravity for three minutes. On the 12th of October, the New Shepard took its second flight with four crews including actor William Shatner.
SpaceX Contribution
Similarly, SpaceX Company broke the record of other space companies by launching a spacecraft into space in September. The four tourists on this “Inspiration4” spacecraft, flew for three days around the Earth, significantly longer than the earlier private space flights.
This private space travel demonstrates how space flight is going to be normal. Whereas the costs per participant for most of these flights were not disclosed, each of them was funded by a millionaire. Still, during the next decade, the normal individual won’t be able to pay the fee of a space flight ticket.
