• Space tourism is a growing industry offering suborbital, orbital, and potentially lunar flights to non-professional astronauts.
• The high cost is attributed to advanced technology, manufacturing, labor, and other operational expenses.

For those whose childhood dream was to go to space, you might be able to achieve that dream without becoming a professional astronaut … and you have a few spare million dollars to spend.

Blue Origin’s latest star-studded mission blasted off on April 14 on the New Shepard commercial spacecraft, giving the crew the chance to explore outer space for 11 minutes.

The all-female crew consisted of celebrities and notable people — popstar Katy Perry, “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, filmmaker Kerianne Flynn and billionaire Jeff Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sánchez.

Bezos’s space technology company has been offering commercial flights since 2021, ever since the Amazon founder himself 

boarded the spacecraft for its maiden crewed voyage

. Could you or your loved ones also take a trip to outer space soon?

What is space tourism? Does it exist?

Space tourism refers to those traveling to space for recreational or entertainment purposes, specifically those who are not professional astronauts. According to SentintoSpace, there are three forms of space travel:

• Suborbital Flights: Passengers travel to the edge of space
• Orbital Flights: Passengers travel around the Earth in a stable orbit
• Lunar Flights: Passengers travel to the moon; this has not been achieved yet for space tourism industry

While the concept has been featured in sci-fi movies and books for decades, it’s a real and growing industry. The first “tourist” in space was American businessman Dennis Tito, who joined two Russian astronauts on the International Space Station in April 2001.

The global market for space tourism was valued at $1.3 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach 6.7 billion by 2030, according to GlobalWire.

What is required to go to space as a tourist?

While astronauts for NASA need a master’s degree and hundreds of hours of training, private citizens looking to go to space are recommended to be in good physical health and might receive some training ahead of launch.

It is also required to be 18 years old or older.

Which companies offer rides to space?

As the industry continues to grow, some companies have already offered flights into space:

How much does a trip to space cost?

It costs a pretty penny to go to outer space, even if only to the edge. The current price of space tourism can range anywhere from $500,000 to tens of millions of dollars.

For example, though Blue Origin does not publicly list prices on its website, a form to reserve a seat requires customers to agree to a $150,000 deposit alone.

If the price of the first ticket sold for a Blue Origin spaceflight is any indicator, seats likely cost in the millions of dollars. The $28 million ticket price was the winning bid in an auction that included 7,600 people registered to bid from 159 countries.

Axiom Space also has not disclosed its per-seat pricing, but its 2022 Ax-1 mission was estimated to cost $55 million per astronaut.

Why is space travel so expensive?

While commercial space flights are becoming available, they certainly are not accessible for the average person.

Space travel has never been cheap. There are several factors for why it’s as expensive as it is, such as:

• Use of new cutting-edge technology
• High manufacturing and testing costs for rockets
• Labor costs
• Propellant costs
• Unit flyaway costs

What actually counts as ‘going to space’?

There’s no “welcome to outer space” sign, so how do you know if you’ve reached it?

The Kármán Line is an established imaginary boundary used to define the start of space. It is located 62 miles above mean sea level.

USA TODAY contributed to this report.