Gallery: How to Book Your Ticket to Space
01interplanetary-tours-reservation-desk
The dream of flying to space is close to the heart of every kid – and even many adults. Such visions make possible ideas like the [Intergalactic Travel Bureau](http://www.fundageek.com/project/detail/494/Intergalactic-Travel-Bureau-). As part of an art festival on Governors Island in New York running June 9 and 10, the travel bureau asks visitors to imagine their dream space vacation. Want to see the rings of Saturn? How about the ice caps of Mars? The exhibit will allow participants to connect with actors and space scientists and come up with the best ways to learn and explore the solar system and beyond. While such flights of fancy are great to imagine, within a few years it will actually be possible to launch into space without first becoming an astronaut. Space travel may never be as easy and safe as taking a plane from Los Angeles to New York, but ordinary citizens (with a lot of money) can already start putting some cash down on a ticket to space. The current market is small, with only seven actual space tourists flying over the last decade, but many people dream of the day it grows. Elon Musk, who plans to fly space tourists through his company [SpaceX](http://www.spacex.com/ "SpaceX"), envisions a [ticket to Mars](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/2012/03/elon-musk-says-ticket-to-mars-will-cost-500000/ "Elon Musk Says Ticket to Mars Will Cost $500,000") costing a mere $500,000 – though [enormous obstacles remain](http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2086/1) before such a endeavor could become a reality. Here, Wired takes a look at the history, present, and future of space tourism and the ways to get your hands on a space ticket. __Above:__ Interplanetary Tours Reservation Desk ------------------------------------- The Intergalactic Travel Bureau has its precedents. Back in 1950, the American Museum of Natural History promoted its new space exhibit by asking visitors to [imagine becoming a tourist in space](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/space-tour-reservations/ "Space Travel: The Interplanetary Tours Reservation Desk"). Soon, the museum was receiving letters requesting reservations from around the world, and they pledged to pass their list on to whichever entity headed to each destination first. The letters – many of them from children – show the eager hopefulness from an earlier era of spaceflight. *Image: Copyright American Museum of Natural History*
02pan-ams-first-moon-flights
Pan Am’s First Moon Flights --------------------------- People have been dreaming about spaceflight affordable to the common man for longer than you might think. Back in the 1920s, a [space craze swept Russia](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/russia-space-craze/), with ordinary citizens imagining that routine spaceflight was just around the corner. During the height of Apollo-era moon fever, the U.S. flight company Pan American World Airways was predicting that lunar flights would soon be commonplace. In 1968 — a year before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon — the company launched a lunar reservations desk, insisting it was not just a publicity stunt. Use of the company’s fictional Orion III spaceplane in the film *2001: A Space Odyssey* probably lent credence to their idea. By simply writing to Pan Am and requesting a “First Moon Flight” club ticket, the airline would give you a numbered card, putting you in line for a moon trip. After 30 years, the company had handed out [more than 100,000 reservations](http://articles.latimes.com/1985-02-10/business/fi-3559_1_public-interest). Though Pan Am collapsed in 1991, the tickets are still floating around and are [now valuable collectors’ items](http://www.robertvenditti.com/2010/%E2%80%9Cwe-ask-you-to-be-patient-while-these-essentials-are-worked-out-%E2%80%9D/). *Image: Movie still from* 2001: A Space Odyssey
03first-space-tourists
First Space Tourists -------------------- Space tourism didn’t take off in earnest until 2001 when multimillionaire Dennis Tito boarded the International Space Station for a seven-day sojourn. Tito paid more than $20 million for his brief stay, an exploit coordinated by the space-tourism company [Space Adventures, Ltd.](http://www.spaceadventures.com/ "Space Adventures") Over the last decade, Space Adventures has sent six more wealthy passengers to the ISS, creating a very tiny market for space tourism. Tito and other early vacationers paid roughly $20 million, though the current price has now risen to between $30 and $35 million. While the super-rich have comprised the bulk of its clientele, Space Adventures actually offers a variety of packages accessible to the merely rich. On their website you can book a simple [zero-gravity experience](http://www.spaceadventures.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Zero_Gravity_Flights.welcome) in an airplane that will run you only $5,000. Future expected suborbital flights, using a rocket from the spaceflight startup [Armadillo Aerospace](http://www.spaceadventures.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=suborbital.Providers), are estimated to be around $100,000. And if you’ve just got a huge pile of cash lying around, consider taking the company up on their plans to send people to [circumnavigate the moon](http://www.spaceadventures.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Lunar.welcome): Tickets start at a $100 million. *Image: Matt Ross/Space Adventures*
04virgin-galactic
Virgin Galactic --------------- One of the only companies actively booking tickets in the modern day is [Virgin Galactic](http://www.virgingalactic.com/ "Welcome | Virgin Galactic"). You can [reserve a seat](http://www.virgingalactic.com/booking/) on a Virgin Galactic flight for about $200,000 dollars. The company will use SpaceShip Two, a rocket designed and built by [Scaled Composites](http://www.scaled.com/ "Welcome To Scaled Composites"), to bring passengers to sub-orbital space. While more than 500 ticket holders have signed on — including celebrities such as Stephen Hawking and Ashton Kutcher — actual launches have yet to materialize. Back in 2004, the company was [optimistically forecasting](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3693020.stm) regular private flights in 2007, which have not materialized even five years later. One early adopter got so fed up with waiting that he [asked for a refund](http://www.space.com/13220-virgin-galactic-customer.html) (which he received). Earlier this year the company’s founder, Richard Branson, stated that he [expected to have the first Virgin Galactic flight](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/04/science/space/spaceflights-prepare-to-expand-customer-base.html?pagewanted=all) by Christmas. Virgin’s rockets will be leaving from the newly built [Spaceport America](http://www.spaceportamerica.com/) in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Hopefully their TSA agents won’t confiscate your water bottle and put you through a full-body scanner just to get six minutes of weightlessness. *Image: Virgin Galactic*
AP05xcor-aerospace
XCOR Aerospace -------------- One more company offering spaceflight bookings is [XCOR Aerospace](http://www.xcor.com/ "XCOR Aerospace - suborbital spacecraft, rocket engines and more"). The private tourism startup will use their Lynx rocketplane to bring people to sub-orbital space. You can reserve a flight for $95,000 – a real steal compared to Virgin Galactic. On [their website](http://www.xcor.com/contact/ticket.php "blank"), the company asks for a $20,000 deposit to pay for a four-day orientation, medical screening, and G-Force training, with the final $75,000 getting you on board the Lynx. The company is still testing the vehicle and expects to have it operational later this year. *Image: XCOR Aerospace*
06i-dream-of-space-poster-660x561
I Dream of Space ---------------- A company called “[I Dream of Space](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/05/suborbital-spaceflight-raffle/)” has a lottery-style approach to getting someone to space. The startup is selling 25,000 posters at $10 a piece, with one lucky purchaser getting a flight on either a Virgin Galactic or XCOR Aerospace flight, whenever they become available. *Image: I Dream of Space, Ltd.*
07one-stop-shop
One-Stop Shop ------------- Got too many spaceflight options? Looking for a deal? One website is already offering a one-stop shop for all your commercial space needs. [Space.travel](http://space.travel/) is sort of like the Travelocity of space, offering information on how to book tickets with the main spaceflight companies and a place for like-minded space enthusiasts to come together and share their experiences. *Image: Movie still from* 2001: A Space Odyssey
