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Soon the summer break will start, so where are you planning to take your kids for the vacation? Or if you are single, where are you going with your friends? You might have selected two to three destinations in your mind.
Is it Manali? Ooty? Shimla or Darjeeling? Or you are planning an international trip to the Maldives or Thailand. You might visit one of these places this year, but what if I told you that in a few years, you will be a part of space tourism, taking a luxurious space vacation?
It may seem like a sci-fi movie, but guess what? One of those sci-fi elements will soon come into existence.
We have heard about and seen the promotional activities for Gujarat tourism, Kerala tourism, Dubai tourism, etc. However, a few of you have probably seen videos and TV commercials about space tourism.
So, before we go any further, do you know what space tourism is? Until now, you may have assumed that traveling to space was only for research or business purposes. And only astronauts are allowed to go into space, and you need a specific degree for it.
But now people are earning more and desiring more luxurious things, and one of them is space tourism.
People are wealthy enough to buy a gold toilet seat for leisure, so why not make space vacation a part of their enjoyment? Space tourism is yet to establish its market because, till today, only trials for final results are going on, which is why there aren’t many ads or news stories about space tourism known by many people.
Where Do Things Stand with Space Exploration at the Moment?
What do you think about how many people have made it to space as tourists? Till 2009, the figure was only 7 individuals, but by the 7th of October 2022, 263 people from 20 countries have visited the International Space Station. Scientists and many large technology companies have been working for a long time to make people dream of traveling to space without having to train for years to become astronauts.
There are many companies around the world having a tough time competing in the space race. Who will achieve success in space tourism? Who will make space tourism affordable to average people?
Some companies are conducting space experiments, while others are establishing criteria for people and training them so that their space vacation will be enjoyable and easy.
It may be hard to digest, but there are three significant areas of attraction in space tourism.
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Orbital Tourism:
Traveling to space is one thing, but orbital space tourism involves flying there with enough sideways velocities that you end up orbiting the earth rather than going back to it. Now you’d be circling our planet and pointing out your own country, and you’d be amazed at how beautiful and amazing it looks from space.
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Suborbital Tourism:
Suborbital rocket-powered travel includes trips that use rockets to send passengers beyond the atmosphere but not quite into an orbit around the earth. It’s like getting a sneak peek at the earth from outer space for a short time with zero gravity.
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Lunar Space Tourism:
With the help of a suitable lunar spaceship, lunar space tourism seeks to accomplish entire moon trips. Plans to conduct lunar tourism on the moon’s surface or nearby have been announced between 2023 – 2043, despite the fact that no lunar space tourism missions have yet been launched. Every time the moon looks beautiful, you take your phone out and take a photo of it. You’d be able to take a round trip around the moon, take a close-up shot of it, and flex it in front of your friends by 2043.
Who would have thought that even in space, there would be different tourist attractions? This all seems like a fantasy, but soon this fantasy is turning into reality.
And to make this happen, there are three major companies in competition. Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin & SpaceX. These companies might seem to be in competition with each other for spaceflights as well as space hotels, but they also aim to make even a common individual able to afford the ticket and enjoy the luxurious space vacation.
Can Space Really Be a Luxurious Vacation Destination?
There are always people claiming to have seen a UFO in the sky, and I believe that aliens were on their space tour at the time. Just think about it. In the future, you are traveling in space during your space tour, and you are just having a look at other planets from outer space. The living beings on those planets may look into the sky and assume that you are their version of an alien, and your spaceflight is their version of a UFO.
This will be the case when we can travel around the planets, but for the time being, simply going into space is an accomplishment.
Exploring space colonies will be a big deal; you might get a great experience to share with your grandchildren that your ancestors would never have thought of, or the concept of space tourism would never have entered their minds.
Christopher Columbus, a great explorer of the world, would have never thought in his dreams that one-day ordinary people might be able to go on a space tour and explore the cosmos.
People used to believe that in order to go to the moon or simply sit in space flight, you had to study hard, train hard, and become an astronaut, but that was in the 1990s; now, all you need is money. If you are weary, then you can travel to orbital, suborbital, or even lunar space. As of now, all the people involved in space tourism are wealthy travelers.
Then what will we, the average individuals, do? Don’t worry, there are many small companies that are aiming to make our space vacation affordable for us.
Two of these companies are attempting to cast a new light on space tourism, which is very tempting and may result in a real space vacation.
As for all the things discussed, you may think that space tourism will be all about just traveling in spaceflight, but what about staying in a hotel over there? That’s right, a hotel. Orbital Assembly Corporation (AOC) has a huge plan for your future luxurious space vacation by 2027. So, this company announced that it is working on a luxury resort for 280 guests and 112 crew members.
Along with hotel rooms, this resort will have a gym, a concert hall, a bar, a restaurant, and a cinema hall. This luxury resort will be like a big capsule attached to an international space station.
Just imagine you are working out in a gym, and through the window, you can see meteoroids floating in space. Or you are relaxing in your hotel room while reading a book, and a shooting star passes by your window. How about attending your favorite artist’s concert in the space?
And when it comes to Space Perspective, this company is claiming to give you a trip to Neptune, but not on a space flight. You would be traveling to Neptune on a space balloon. No, don’t worry; that balloon won’t be filled with gas. It will be a capsule in the shape of a balloon. Only eight passengers and one pilot will be allowed in that space balloon, providing a 360-degree view of space.
How about a candlelight dinner or a business meeting in that space balloon? Soon, people will plan their destination wedding in one of the space capsules. If not a destination wedding, then a honeymoon or family trip is for sure.
And if you want to have a longer vacation in space, then a space cruise is perfect for you. In that case, your journey will begin on Earth and end on Mars, with a duration of 200 days. And due to this space civilization, you will be able to brag among your people, saying that you have spent so many days in space.
You’ll be spending days and nights on that cruise, witnessing miracles take place. Meteoroids collide, shooting stars—a space object entering the atmosphere of a specific planet and making its way to its surface after seeing all this, you might think of becoming a vlogger and shooting everything while explaining your experience to your audience.
But will it be that easy to be a part of space tourism and have a luxurious space vacation?
Conclusion
It won’t be that easy to become a space tourist, and if you make it that far, you will be able to call yourself an astronaut. However, you may be asked to go through training because surfing in zero gravity takes a lot of practice.
And to enter that training program, there might be certain health and financial criteria for everyone. At the moment, just getting tickets to the space tour costs thousands of dollars.
This is all part of the enjoyment, luxury, or even, let’s say, business and advancement, but this space civilization may lead to side effects on planets like large carbon footprints, a polluted stratospheric layer, or the depletion of the Ozone Layer. Every good thing comes with a price, and this space tourism is beyond that. So, what’s your take on space tourism?
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