The current cost of a trip to space with Virgin Galactic is $450,000, but this astronaut thinks price barriers for space tourism are likely to come down.
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.’s historic first commercial spaceflight could lay the foundations for a time when “everyday people,” not just billionaires, can one day visit space, according to former NASA astronaut Eileen Collins.
The cost of a trip to space with Virgin Galactic is $450,000, so customers inevitably come from the ranks of the super-wealthy. Demand has been brisk — Virgin Galactic says that it has around 800 “future astronauts” signed up.But Collins, who flew four space shuttle missions, says that if companies like Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin can avoid accidents, price barriers for space tourism are likely to come down.
“There aren’t that many billionaires — they will have to go to lower-net-worth people,” she said. “I think that over the next 10 years, if they do not have an accident, many more people will be able to fly.” A former U.S. Air Force colonel and test pilot, Collins served as pilot on two space shuttle missions and commanded another two. She told MarketWatch that the experience of seeing Earth from space was incredible. “It changed me in many ways — looking at the Earth from space, it’s a beautiful, overwhelming experience,” she said.
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