The Space Tourism Market Is Rapidly Expanding

Up until this point, just one private spaceflight company has organized every space tourist mission over the past two decades.

“It used to be, 20 years ago, we’d reach out to people and they think we’re completely crazy with this, this idea of flying to space," Tom Shelley, the president of Space Adventures, said. For the past two decades, Space Adventures has been the only private company sending tourists to space — doing so with the help of Russia’s space program.  Now the space tourism industry is quickly expanding — thanks to Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and SpaceX all competing for a foothold in the market. But what exactly are these companies offering?