Being as it was only little over a month since the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landings, it seems apt to talk about the growing probability of consumer space travel.

The landing in 1969 was driven by a rivalry between Russia and America, who were battling it out to see who could get a man on the moon first. The consumer space program seems to be driven by a similar impulse, this time between Richard Branson’s Virgin and The Lynx.  

Sadly, holidays are still a while away from being like ‘The Jetsons’ but this could be the biggest leap in tourism since the invention of the plane. As you would imagine initial prices to travel are exorbitant, roughly $50,000, but this is small change compared to the millions that it has previously cost tourists to travel into space.  The galactic flights only take you marginally out of the Earth’s atmosphere so the space age travel isn’t quite where we would like it to be just yet. 

When the first commercial flights were put on sale, the prices were only affordable for the privileged and now some airlines literally giveaway flights. Will intergalactic flights ever be affordable or will they always be the folly of the rich and famous? Would you pay huge fees to take such a significant, unique and life changing trip? I would be willingly (if I had anywhere near the money), the sophistication of the technology involved warrants the fees and it would be an experience that few could boast.