Like every other kid fascinated by the starry night sky, probably you too dreamed of becoming an astronaut. However, if you could not become one, you may still have a chance. While it may seem to be a trend among billionaires, you can travel to space too. But, for that, you will have to be lucky enough to win a really special lucky draw. No promises, though.
Sorting by the potential prices, the cheapest options for a space journey, other than dreaming about it, are lucky draws.
Virgin Galactic Lucky Draw:
Richard Branson’s company has a lucky draw option that will offer two free tickets on one of the first commercial space flights, which is supposed to happen in 2022. The registration is open till September 1, and the winner will be announced around September 29. Both the tickets will be given to a single winner and whoever wins them can bring their friend, partner or guest along. Moreover, if you are an Indian, you are eligible to register.
Issacman’s raffle for SpaceX mission:
Other than NASA, a customer of the SpaceX company is 37-year-old billionaire Jared Issacman, who has announced that he will take a three- or a four-day trip beyond the earth’s gravity. Issacman will charter SpaceX’s four-seater Crew Dragon and a rocket that would launch the spacecraft.
While Issacman has given two seats on the spacecraft to a free children’s hospital — St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The billionaire raffled off the last seat, for which one need not pay. You can keep an eye on similar opportunities. If you fail to get a ticket in the free chances above, either you will have to be able to spend millions or wait till more such lucky draws. Paid space travel is the billionaires’ league.
NASA and Axiom’s Private Astronaut:
The 55-million-dollar seats on Axiom Space’s private astronaut program’s first mission Ax-1 are already booked and will take off in January 2022. However, for its next mission Ax-2, two mission specialists are yet to be announced and you can apply on their website if you want to get a ticket. The price, though, should not be less than Ax-1. After Ax-2, more private missions are coming as the company has already signed a deal with SpaceX for Ax-3 and Ax-4.
Dear Moon Project
If just a nice round view of Earth and zero gravity do not cut it for you and you are ready to spend billions on your space trip, you can go on a trip around the moon. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is working with SpaceX for one such mission - dearMoon. Maezawa, an art collector, expects the crew members to produce art expressing their experience of being in space. Unfortunately, applications to join the crew are closed now. For further updates and more missions, you can keep checking their website.
Space tourism is going to flourish very soon. However, will space tourism change how we look at the sky? We will find out when people spending holidays in space stops being a spectacle.
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