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The World's First Space Tourist Arrived at the International Space Station 20 Years Ago — Here's What He Says About the Trip

Dennis Tito, the world's first space tourist, spent eight days at the International Space Station in 2001.

Jessica Poitevien is an international storyteller and regular contributor to Travel + Leisure.

Space tourism once seemed like an idea for the distant future, but with the world's first space hotel set to open in 2027 and companies like SpaceX , Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic vying to make space travel more broadly available, it seems like the future is now.

And it all started 20 years ago, when U.S. millionaire Dennis Tito became the world's first space tourist .

On April 30, 2001, Tito, then 60, accomplished what was a lifelong dream of his when he arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on a Russian Soyuz rocket. The trip cost him $20 million, but reflecting on the moment two decades later, Tito still feels the experience was worth every penny.

"The pencils started floating in the air, and I could see the blackness of space and the curvature of the Earth," he told CNN Travel . "I was euphoric. I mean, it was the greatest moment of my life, to achieve a life objective, and I knew then that nothing could ever beat this."

Though Tito was working in finance when he launched into orbit, he had originally started his career in aeronautics and astronautics and kept his dream of going to space alive for several decades, CNN Travel reports. For Tito, outer space was something that had fascinated him since childhood.

According to CNN Travel , NASA was against the idea of sending civilians to space, so in 1991, Tito turned to the Soviet Union and began conversations about paying to join the country's space mission. Later in that decade, he resumed those conversations before his eventual flight in 2001.

"In the late '90s, the Russians were really hurting for funding of this space program and the bottom line was, I figured out, 'Huh, maybe I could get involved with the Russians,'" he told CNN Travel .

Eventually, on April 28, 2001, Tito took off on his journey to the ISS with two Russian cosmonauts by his side. They arrived at the station two days later.

"I just enjoyed looking at the window, videoing the Earth, the portholes, the station. It was just wonderful," Tito told CNN Travel . "It just was — whatever I had expected, the best I had expected times 10. It was the best experience of my whole life, those eight days."

Though only a handful of other ultra-wealthy people have managed to pay their way onto a space mission since Tito first paved the way, he is keeping an eye on the industry's development, hoping more people will get to experience what he did.

"I just wish them the best," he said to CNN Travel . "I am hopeful they will have the wonderful experience that I had."

Jessica Poitevien is a Travel + Leisure contributor currently based in South Florida, but she's always on the lookout for her next adventure. Besides traveling, she loves baking, talking to strangers, and taking long walks on the beach. Follow her adventures on Instagram .

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World's first space tourist 10 years on: Dennis Tito

• Published 30 April 2011

Dennis Tito's jubilant return to Earth: "I just came back from paradise!"

Ten years ago, US multi-millionaire Dennis Tito became the world's first-ever space tourist.

He is said to have paid $20m for his eight days in space.

Mr Tito blasted off on 28 April 2001, but only after a struggle to get anyone to take him - the US space agency Nasa refused on the grounds that he was not a trained astronaut, so it was the Russians who facilitated the trip.

To date, only six people have followed in his footsteps - paying for a ticket to orbit in space.

But 10 years on, the lure of making space tourism more accessible to the masses is just as strong.

Virgin Galactic hopes to take fare-paying passengers into space in around two years time, and a Russian company has even announced plans for a hotel in space.

On the tenth anniversary of the flight, Dennis Tito reflected on his eight-day holiday in space for BBC World Service.

Dennis Tito

There was absolutely no fear. I was so excited and so were my crew mates.

We were going to be in space, and we thought of nothing else, but the success of that mission.

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Watch: Dennis Tito arrives at the International Space Station

So there was absolutely no apprehension - it was just a really good, euphoric feeling that finally the day had come.

It was not a shuttle, it was a space capsule; we were literally elbow-to-elbow.

The countdown began, and it went on schedule to the second.

It was a little surprising when lift-off occurred - I thought it would be much more rigorous; you could barely feel it, and you could not hear it.

When I witnessed a launch from the outside, even a mile away, there was a huge sound.

But we heard nothing of that within the space craft.

'Like flying'

As we lifted off and the fuel began to burn, the vehicle accelerated and it kept on accelerating, and then you felt just a gradual build up of G-forces.

Eight minutes and 50 seconds later, you experience your last of the three-gs, and then zero-gs when the engine shuts down - that is the most spectacular moment of the entire flight.

At burn out you become weightless; there are pencils that are hung from strings in the cabin, and at orbit insertion, those pencils start to just float.

And then looking to my right, out of the window, I could see the blackness of space, I could see Earth, and the curvature of Earth, and the sight of Earth from space was just spectacular.

I cannot ever duplicate that euphoric feeling that I had at that moment.

For me it was a 40-year goal. Often achieving a major goal in life occurs slowly, but this was instant - it was just at that precise moment.

It was once we got out of the space suit that we were able to float around and experience weightlessness.

It is really extraordinary, because there is nowhere on earth that we - or any of our ancestors in the entire history of evolution - experience that.

It was a wonderful experience; the feeling of floating is just unbelievable. Moving around is not difficult and you learn very quickly.

When we were on the International Space Station we had more room - you would push off from one area, very gently, and you would fly to another area.

It was like flying, and that was a lot of fun!

Dennis Tito said he could not duplicate the feeling of seeing Earth from space for the first time

Vivid Earth

It took two days of orbiting the Earth, 16 orbits a day, before we caught up with the station.

There were three crew members who were there for about two months as part of the long-term crew, so they don't see many human beings, and they welcomed us with open arms.

I think we have a much better view of the Earth from the International Space Station.

The port hole that we would actually look out at the earth was through the floor, so I was always looking at earth.

Then we had some port holes that looked out to the side, and we could see the edges of the Earth - so we had two different kinds of views.

We would go from one to the other, and I would spend most of the 45 minutes - which is half of one orbit - and be either videotaping the view, or just sitting for 45 minutes, peering out, listening to opera, and just enjoying the experience.

The images are vivid in my mind. I continue to enjoy it every day!

It went very quickly and probably the most disappointing thing for me was after a total of eight days in space, I had to return to Earth.

I would have happily stayed up there for months!

For me, there was very little transition from the space flight to Earth.

Within 48 hours I was actually back to my running - I ran a couple of miles.

With Nasa, there was a strong feeling that my flight shouldn't take place. And I think it's somewhat understandable, it was the first truly private space flight.

And I think that they were concerned, number one, about me being a private citizen; and number two, that my age may not have qualified me.

They had probably some reason to be concerned.

Space future

I hope that tens of thousands of people can experience what I experienced, for 5% of the cost.

"I continue to enjoy it every day": Dennis Tito 10 years on

I believe there will be a time, it may take 10 or 20 years, where the cost for flying in orbit might be as low as a million dollars in today's money.

A million dollars is certainly a lot of money, but there are many millionaires in the world today, and I know people that would spend their last penny to have this experience.

I often thought that if I did spend my last penny, I could live on social security for the rest of my life and still be happy, because I'd achieved what I wanted to achieve.

It was a sense of completeness - from then on, everything is a bonus. And the last 10 years, everything since then, has been just extra.

And I think I am one of the happiest humans alive because of that.

More on this story

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April 28, 2001: 1st Space Tourist Launches

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Tourist enters space station

HOUSTON, Texas -- Earth's first space tourist has successfully arrived at his destination -- the international space station.

American Dennis Tito fulfilled a lifetime ambition as he entered the station on Monday after docking with two Russian cosmonauts aboard a Soyuz spacecraft.

"A great trip here!" a grinning Tito said. "I don't know about this adaption that they're talking about. I'm already adapted. I love space!"

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Tito, a 60-year-old California investment broker and former NASA engineer, paid $20 million (�13 million) for the trip.

But the flight proved controversial with NASA and Russian space officials disagreeing over the nature of the venture.

The U.S. space agency and the remaining partners in the $95 billion space station project -- Europe, Canada and Japan -- objected to an amateur visiting the station so early in its development.

NASA dropped its opposition after Tito agreed not to float into American modules without an escort and to pay for anything he broke.

Tito's historic journey began on Saturday when his space craft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan.

His crew will leave their new Soyuz space capsule behind as an escape craft for the station crew when they return to Earth in a week aboard the station's old Soyuz.

The Soyuz craft docked after the departure from the station of the space shuttle Endeavour.

The shuttle had been aiding the station while NASA grappled with a series of mysterious computer failures that disrupted communications, delayed the test of a new robotics system and left ground controllers scratching their heads, unable even to turn the lights on and off aboard the station.

NASA is investigating the crashes.

"It will probably take us several days, or maybe even a week or so, to complete all the testing to understand what may have caused this," said Randy Stone, NASA's director of mission operations.

The Endeavour is due to arrive back at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday after its 12-day mission.

Russia 'plans more space tourism' April 29, 2001 Space tourist Tito blasts off April 28, 2001 Dennis Tito: A passion for space April 27, 2001 Tito launch to go on schedule April 27, 2001

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First space tourist returns to Earth

ATLANTA, Georgia -- The world's first paying space tourist, U.S. businessman Dennis Tito, has descended back to Earth safely after six days aboard the orbiting international space station.

He landed in the Kazakh steppes Sunday aboard a Soyuz spacecraft which brought him and two Russian cosmonauts back to Earth from the International Space Station.

Along with Russian cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Baturin, Tito landed at 0542 GMT in a "hard" landing.

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Speeches & Audio

World's first space tourist.

Upon his return to Earth from the International Space Station on May 9, 2001, California millionaire Dennis Tito speaks at a press conference about his experience as the world's first space tourist. The tycoon reportedly paid the Russian space program $20 million for the trip into outer space.

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Dennis Tito, the very first Space Tourist

Crew of Soyuz TM-32. (from left: Dennis Tito, Talgat Musabayev, and Yuri Baturin)

On April 28 , 2001 , American engineer and multimillionaire Dennis Tito joined the Soyuz TM-32 mission to the International Space Station ISS , spending 7 days, 22 hours, 4 minutes in space and orbiting Earth 128 times. He paid $20 Mio for his trip, which made him the very first space tourist in history.

Space Travel

Who ever thought that space tourism would become possible? To travel in space simply for recreational, leisure or business purposes. Of course, up to now, traveling to space is only reserved for the very rich people, who are able to afford this luxury – flights brokered by Space Adventures to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft have been US $20–40 million. But, with Space Ship One traveling to the border of outer space and experiencing zero gravity has become affordable for a few more but only the very richest.[ 2 ] Will traveling to space ever become a mass phenomenon? Who knows. But, today, we will tell you the story of the very first space tourist Dennis Tito .

Dennis Tito

At the end of the 1990s , MirCorp , a private venture that was by then in charge of the space station, began seeking potential space tourists to visit Mir in order to offset some of its maintenance costs. Dennis Tito , an American businessman and former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist, became their first candidate. When the decision to de-orbit Mir was made, Tito managed to switch his trip to the International Space Station ( ISS ). In 1972 , Dennis Tito had founded Wilshire Associates , a leading provider of investment management, consulting and technology services in Santa Monica, California , serving an international clientele representing assets of $71 billion. Wilshire relies on the field of quantitative analytics, which uses mathematical tools to analyze market risks. Despite a career change from aerospace engineering to investment management , Tito remained interested in space. Tito was accepted by the  Russian Federal Space Agency as a candidate for a commercial spaceflight. Although, he met criticism from NASA before the launch, because NASA considered it inappropriate for a tourist to take a ride into space. When Tito arrived at the Johnson Space Center for additional training on the American portion of the ISS , NASA refused to provide training for Dennis Tito . Thus, later through an arrangement with space tourism company Space Adventures, Ltd ., Tito joined the Soyuz TM-32 mission on April 28 , 2001 , spending 7 days in space, while he performed several scientific experiments in orbit useful for his company. Tito paid a reported $20 million for his trip.

Dennis Tito should not be the last space tourist . Only about a year later South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth followed him on board a Soyuz mission to the ISS . And the list of space tourists continues, although the costs have risen to almost $40 million for the trip.

References and Further Reading:

• [1]  BBC report on Dennis Tito’s spaceflight
• [2]  Space Ship One – The First private Space Ship , SciHi Blog
• [3]  The first Modular Space Station – Mir , SciHi Blog
• [4]  The Deorbit of Russian Space Station MIR , SciHi Blog
• [5] Dennis Tito at Wikidata
• [6]  How the law is key to making space tourism happen | Frans von der Dunk | TEDxVienna , TEDx Talks @ youtube
• [7] Timeline of Space Tourists via DBpedia and Wikidata

Harald Sack

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Space tourism is here – 20 years after the first stellar tourist, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin plans to send civilians to space

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Wendy Whitman Cobb is affiliated with the US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. Her views are her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Defense Department or any of its affiliates.

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For most people, getting to the stars is nothing more than a dream. But on May 5, 2021, the 60th anniversary of the first suborbital flight, that dream became a little bit more achievable.

The space company Blue Origin announced that it would start selling tickets for suborbital flights to the edge of space . The first flight is scheduled for July 20, and Jeff Bezos’ company is auctioning off one single ticket to the highest bidder .

But whoever places the winning bid won’t be the first tourist in space.

On April 28, 2001, Dennis Tito, a wealthy businessman, paid US$20 million for a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to be the first tourist to visit the International Space Station. Only seven civilians have followed suit in the 20 years since, but that number is poised to double in the next 12 months alone.

NASA has long been hesitant to play host to space tourists , so Russia – looking for sources of money post-Cold War in the 1990s and 2000s – has been the only option available to those looking for this kind of extreme adventure. However, it seems the rise of private space companies is going to make it easier for regular people to experience space.

From my perspective as a space policy analyst , recent announcements from companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX are the opening of an era in which more people can experience space. Hoping to build a future for humanity in space, these companies are seeking to use space tourism as a way to demonstrate both the safety and reliability of space travel to the general public.

The development of space tourism

Flights to space like Dennis Tito’s are expensive for a reason. A rocket must burn a lot of costly fuel to travel high and fast enough to enter Earth’s orbit.

Another cheaper possibility is a suborbital launch, with the rocket going high enough to reach the edge of space and coming right back down. This is the kind of flight that Blue Origin is now offering. While passengers on a suborbital trip experience weightlessness and incredible views, these launches are more accessible.

The difficulty and expense of either option has meant that, traditionally, only nation-states have been able to explore space. This began to change in the 1990s as a series of entrepreneurs entered the space arena. Three companies led by billionaire CEOs have emerged as the major players: Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. Though none have taken paying, private customers to space, all anticipate doing so in the very near future.

British billionaire Richard Branson has built his brand on not just business but also his love of adventure. In pursuing space tourism, Branson has brought both of those to bear. He established Virgin Galactic after buying SpaceShipOne – a company that won the Ansari X-Prize by building the first reusable spaceship. Since then, Virgin Galactic has sought to design, build and fly a larger SpaceShipTwo that can carry up to six passengers in a suborbital flight.

The going has been harder than anticipated. While Branson predicted opening the business to tourists in 2009, Virgin Galactic has encountered some significant hurdles – including the death of a pilot in a crash in 2014 . After the crash, engineers found significant problems with the design of the vehicle, which required modifications.

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, respective leaders of SpaceX and Blue Origin, began their own ventures in the early 2000s.

Musk, fearing that a catastrophe of some sort could leave Earth uninhabitable, was frustrated at the lack of progress in making humanity a multiplanetary species. He founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of first developing reusable launch technology to decrease the cost of getting to space. Since then, SpaceX has found success with its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft . SpaceX’s ultimate goal is human settlement of Mars; sending paying customers to space is an intermediate step. Musk says he hopes to show that space travel can be done easily and that tourism might provide a revenue stream to support development of the larger, Mars-focused Starship system.

Bezos, inspired by the vision of physicist Gerard O’Neill , wants to expand humanity and industry not to Mars but to space itself. Blue Origin , established in 2004, has proceeded slowly and quietly in also developing reusable rockets. Its New Shepard rocket, first successfully flown in 2015, will be the spaceship taking tourists on suborbital trips to the edge of space this July . For Bezos, these launches represent an effort at making space travel routine, reliable and accessible as a first step to enabling further space exploration.

Outlook for the future

Blue Origin is not the only company offering passengers the opportunity to go into space and orbit the Earth.

SpaceX currently has two tourist launches planned. The first is scheduled for as early as September 2021 , funded by billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman. The other trip, planned for 2022, is being organized by Axiom Space . These trips will be costly for wannabe space travelers, at $55 million for the flight and a stay on the International Space Station. The high cost has led some to warn that space tourism – and private access to space more broadly – might reinforce inequality between rich and poor.

While Blue Origin is already accepting bids for a seat on the first launch, it has not yet announced the cost of a ticket for future trips. Passengers will also need to meet several physical qualifications, including weighing 110 to 223 pounds (50 to 101 kg) and measuring between 5 feet and 6 feet, 4 inches (1.5 to 1.9 meters) in height. Virgin Galactic, which continues to test SpaceShipTwo, has no specific timetable, but its tickets are expected to be priced from $200,000 to $250,000 .

Though these prices are high, it is worth considering that Dennis Tito’s $20 million ticket in 2001 could potentially pay for 100 flights on Blue Origin soon. The experience of viewing the Earth from space, though, may prove to be priceless for a whole new generation of space explorers.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on April 28, 2021. It has been updated to include the announcement by Blue Origin.

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Photos: The First Space Tourists

Space tourist pioneer: dennis tito.

American businessman Dennis Tito, the world’s first orbital space tourist, is seen training for his historic 2001 flight to the International Space Station. Tito launched in April 2001 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft thanks to a $20 million deal brokered by the Virginia-based firm Space Adventures.

Soyuz Rocket Launch

The Russian Soyuz rocket launches from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Each of Space Adventures' spaceflight participants launched aboard a Soyuz rocket.

Mark Shuttleworth: Thumbs Up

South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth gives a hearty thumbs up sign during preparations for his 2002 trip to the International Space Station, making him the second space tourist.

Millionaire Space Tourist Wants to Go Back

American entrepreneur Greg Olsen floats in weightlessness during a zero-gravity training flight for his 2005 space tourist mission to the International Space Station.

3rd Space Tourist: Greg Olsen in Croatia

U.S. entrepreneur Greg Olsen, the world's third space tourist, speaks at the Human Presence in Space Summit in Split, Croatia in August 2007.

The First Female Space Tourist

Ansari X Prize backer Anousheh Ansari gets a push during weightless training aboard a modified aircraft. She flew to the ISS on Sept. 18, 2006 - the world's first female private spaceflyer.

Anousheh Ansari Honored with Portraits by Peter Max

Portrait of Anousheh Ansari by artist Peter Max.

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Billionaire Takes Second Trip to Space

Space tourist Charles Simonyi trains for weightless flight.

Circus Billionaire Says Space Trip Worth Every Penny

Spaceflight Participant Guy Laliberté is in the foreground as the entire crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS) is seen on a screen in the Mission Control Center Moscow in Korolev, Russia shortly after the successful docking of the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft with the International Space Station Oct. 2.

Former Astronaut's Son Signs on as Space Tourist

American computer game developer Richard Garriott floated in weightlessness inside a Russian Sokol spacesuit during an airplane ride to celebrate the release of his game 'Tabula Rasa.'

Space Tourist Settles in Aboard Station

Space tourist Richard Garriott poses for a photograph while storing a protein crystal growth experiment during his October 2008 flight to the International Space Station.

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Dennis Tito, world's first space tourist, plans flight around the moon aboard SpaceX Starship

By William Harwood

October 12, 2022 / 8:30 AM EDT / CBS News

Dennis Tito, an 82-year-old aerospace engineer-turned-financial analyst who paid Russia $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station in 2001, is working with SpaceX on plans to take his wife on what amounts to a belated honeymoon voyage to the moon.

In an interview with "CBS Mornings," Tito said he and his wife of two years want to fly on Elon Musk's futuristic Starship for the sheer adventure of it. They also want to inspire senior citizens who might think their horizons are increasingly limited.

And they want to play a part in humanity's initial steps out into the solar system.

"I've been thinking about flying to the moon for the last 20 years, since my space flight," Tito said. "And here we were at SpaceX (recently) and they were interested in talking about a space flight. And I brought it up. And within a few minutes, we both were on board."

In an interview Monday at SpaceX's sprawling Starship development complex near Brownsville, Texas, Tito and his wife Akiko, 57, said they hope to blast off with 10 other yet-to-be-named passengers, booked by SpaceX, within the next five years or so — after the rocket completes a series of test flights .

"We will be able to watch the Earth get smaller, and smaller and smaller, and the moon get larger, and larger and larger," Tito said, describing the planned trajectory. "We will then, upon emerging from the far side of the moon, see the Earth" from a perspective only the Apollo astronauts have enjoyed to date.

"We will be literally out of this world," he said.

As it now stands, their voyage presumably would follow two other piloted flights of the Super Heavy/Starship rocket: one to Earth orbit, possibly with billionaire Jared Isaacman, who funded the first private orbital flight aboard a Crew Dragon capsule in 2021; and an around-the-moon flight chartered by Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa .

It's not known when those missions might get off the ground or how much they might cost. Likewise, Tito would not discuss how much he'll be paying for two seats aboard the Starship.

Whatever the amount, it's obviously worth it to a man who described  his space station visit two decades ago as "100 percent enjoyment," adding "I've been thinking about it every day since."

"One of the things I hope to do, we both hope to do, is inspire people that as we get older, there are so many things we still can do," Tito said. "And flying in space actually is a lot easier than a lot of other things. I mean, I'm beyond the age of skiing, but space is a lot easier than that."

Said Akiko Tito, a real estate investor and jet pilot: "Like Dennis said, I think age is just a number. We just want to inspire people and especially me, inspire women, you know, young women (who) want to become a pilot in the future, want to become astronaut. You know, work hard and make it happen."

"Star Trek" actor William Shatner, then 90, set the age record last year when he flew to the edge of space aboard a sub-orbital New Shepard spacecraft from Blue Origin. The oldest person to reach orbit was the late John Glenn, who was 77 when he flew aboard a space shuttle in 1998.

Tito could be nearing 90 himself when he finally gets his Starship flight, but he told "CBS Mornings" correspondent Janet Shamlian he's in better shape now than when he launched aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to become the first so-called space tourist.

"I am probably in better physical shape than I was 21 years ago," he said, "because I've taken up weightlifting in a serious way. And I wasn't able then to manage the kind of weight I can manage now. So I think I'm in better shape."

But realizing it could be several years before he blasts off aboard the as-yet-untried Starship, he says they're "upping our physical fitness activities and health monitoring to really make sure that we're going to be in shape for many years into the future." The regimen includes weight training along with walking and running on a quarter-mile track outside his house. The couple also has a Pilates studio.

"We're not counting on (launching) next year," Tito said. "So we have to stay in good shape, which is a great motivational thing for us because a lot of people when they reach my age, you know, will sit in a rocking chair and wait for the inevitable."

Akiko Tito said she started working out on a daily basis 20 years ago and now trains for beauty and fitness competitions that focus on "total physical fitness. And then you have to be elegant as well at the same time."

She said she had no hesitation about joining her husband for a flight to the moon. "We want to make it happen together, as a couple," she said.

Born in Tokyo, Akiko Tito holds a degree in economics and moved to New York in 1995 to work on Wall Street while raising a daughter. She and Tito were married in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"So we didn't have a chance really to have a honeymoon," Tito said. Then, laughing, he added, "so maybe this is our honeymoon."

The 394-foot-tall Starship will be the world's most powerful rocket when it finally takes off, generating a staggering 16 million pounds of thrust from the 33 methane-burning Raptor engines powering its "Super Heavy" first stage — twice the liftoff thrust of NASA's $4.1 billion Space Launch System moon rocket .

SpaceX's upper stage — the Starship — is equipped with six Raptor engines and will be capable of carrying passengers and payloads to the moon and beyond. Both stages are fully reusable and will descend to tail-first landings back on Earth using similar software and techniques perfected using the company's smaller Falcon 9 rockets.

The Starship upper stage has been launched seven times on low-altitude test flights, four of which suffered catastrophic failures during the landing sequence. The most recent test flight in May 2021 was fully successful.

"Every time a rocket explodes, you learn something," Tito said. "So the more rocket explosions we see, the better because then we'll get all the bugs out of it."

The Super Heavy first stage has not yet been launched. SpaceX is in the process of testing its engines and other critical systems before a test flight to boost an unpiloted Starship into orbit for the first time, possibly before the end of the year.

SpaceX already holds a $2.9 billion NASA contract to develop a variant of the Starship to serve as the initial lunar lander in the agency's Artemis moon program.

Under the current plan, astronauts launched aboard NASA's third piloted SLS rocket will dock with a Starship in lunar orbit and descend to touchdown near the moon's south pole in the 2025-26 timeframe. SpaceX is required to carry out an unpiloted test flight, complete with moon landing, before that Artemis 3 mission.

Whether SpaceX can perfect the huge rocket and test it to NASA's satisfaction by 2025-26 remains to be seen.

SpaceX does not provide details about its schedule and it's not known how the NASA mission will fit in with the company's plans to launch the other two currently planned Starship missions before Tito and his wife get their turn.

Isaacman, who funded the first private flight, Inspiration 4, to low-Earth orbit in September 2021, has announced plans for three more private missions with SpaceX, including one that will feature the first spacewalk by a private citizen.

Billionaire entrepreneur and art collector Maezawa, founder of ZoZotown, one of Japan's largest retail websites, also has booked a Super Heavy/Starship flight to carry him and several companions on the first privately-funded flight around the moon.

Tito's flight presumably will follow Maezawa's, but it's not known whether one or both will precede NASA's lunar landing mission or whether Tito will get his wish within five years as hoped.

"We're prepared to wait as long as it takes to get everything perfected," Tito said.

Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News.

More from CBS News

The World’s First Space Tourist Plans a Return Trip—This Time to the Moon

F ew people had heard of aerospace engineer and financial analyst Dennis Tito before 2001. That was the year Tito, then 60, became the first paying space tourist, cutting a $20 million check to Russia to fly aboard a Soyuz spacecraft and spend a week aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Since then, Tito has remained Earthbound, but has never quite shaken the adventuring bug. Now, he is planning to return to space—this time traveling to the moon, a route nobody but the Apollo astronauts have ever flown.

As SpaceNews , CNN , and others report, Tito, now 82, and his wife Akiko, have both inked a deal to travel on a one-week journey aboard SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft, along with up to 10 other paying passengers. They will be flying a path that will take them around the far side of the moon and slingshot them back home. The amount Tito and his wife are paying for their seats aboard the ship has not been disclosed.

The Starship is a 50 m (164 ft.) tall stainless steel spacecraft that launches atop SpaceX’s 69 m (226 ft.) Super Heavy booster. While the the rocket has never flown before, SpaceX hopes to launch it on its first, uncrewed Earth-orbital mission as early as next month. Following that, the Starship-Super Heavy pair will make its first crewed flight—also Earth orbital—in 2024 or 2025. Tito’s circumlunar flight would come sometime after that.

Just this week, SpaceX rolled the Super Heavy booster out to the launch pad at its Boca Chica, Texas, launch base, and stacked the Starship spacecraft on top. It was the first time the two segments of the giant machine had been mated. Together they make a formidable sight, towering 120 m (394 ft.) high—or a good seven stories taller than NASA’s mega moon rocket , the Space Launch System (SLS). Starship is also significantly more powerful than the SLS. Starship’s 33, methane-fueled engines put out 7.2 million kg (16 million lb.) of thrust, nearly double that of NASA’s 6-engine rocket, which produces 4 million kg (8.8 million lb.).

Tito will make his journey aboard an identical machine—indeed, it could be the exact same one, since both the Starship and Super Heavy are designed to be reusable. In some respects, he surprised himself by deciding to make the trip at all. Until recently, he said in a call with reporter, he had hadn’t been planning to return to space, but, “over time, watching the developments of SpaceX and just what they were doing fascinated me.”

Last year, he began discussions with SpaceX, and told the company he would like to fly again, though not merely to the ISS. “‘I would be interested in going to the moon,'” he recalls saying. “And then I looked over to Akiko, and we had a little eye contact, and she goes, ‘Yeah, me too.’”

For the record, Tito says that after this mission, he really, truly will be retiring from the spaceflight game.

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Leisure travel might be a little more exciting for the world’s wealthiest adventure seekers as space, long the exclusive domain of professional astronauts, is now accessible to tourists. In July 2021, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin each successfully launched suborbital tourism programs from their spaceports in New Mexico and Texas, respectively (with Blue Origin completing its second launch in October 2021). In September 2021, SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission kicked off the company’s orbital tourism program from the Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A. Each of these companies hope to make space a popular destination by offering regular launch services to private citizens. Aspiring space tourists can expect to pay upwards of $250,000 for a seat on suborbital spacecrafts and an estimated $50 million for a ticket to orbit. Space enthusiasts on a budget can tour Spaceport America, where Virgin Galactic launches to space, for $50 or less.

These historic spaceflights  represent the most recent chapter in a longer history of space tourism. More than 20 years ago, Dennis Tito, the first “space tourist” (also known as “spaceflight participant”), flew to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for a six-day stay. Tito donated the Sokol pressure suit he wore in space to the Museum in 2003. Since his flight, only six other individuals scored self-funded travel to space (one of these intrepid travelers flew twice). Space Adventures, a US-based travel agency to the stars, facilitated these multi-million dollar, out-of-this-world experiences in partnership with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.

Dennis Tito wore this suit when he launched to the International Space Station on April 28, 2001. (Smithsonian Institution)

Although space itself remained inaccessible to private citizens until the 21st century, other places where Earth and space meet—such as National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) centers—have long been popular destinations for a different kind of space tourist.

The Space Age dawned in the golden age of the family road trip. Thanks to the proliferation of private automobile ownership, an expanding interstate highway system, and the advent of more generous vacation policies in the workplace, Americans ventured from home in greater numbers in the 1960s than at any earlier time in the nation’s history. Millions of these travelers included on their itineraries NASA centers, particularly those with ties to the human spaceflight program: the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama; the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County, Florida; and the Manned Spacecraft Center (known since 1973 as the Johnson Space Center) in Houston, Texas.

NASA centers were not prepared for the tourists who appeared en masse outside their gates. In the early 1960s, the centers operated much like—and were often physically adjacent to—secure military installations. For reasons of national security, the centers restricted access to official visitors only. In response to curious onlookers, the centers developed ad hoc visitor programs. At the same time, proactive civic leaders and enterprising business-people responded to the presence of space center tourists by developing their own space-themed attractions, including museums, halls of fame, and amusement parks, and amenities, such as motels, hotels, and restaurants.

At the Kennedy Space Center, for example, public affairs officers facilitated increasing access to NASA’s launch complex between 1964 and 1967. Their efforts began while the spaceport was under construction with a modest roadside trailer featuring wall-mounted exhibitions. They soon expanded visitor programming to include self-guided driving tours on weekends and holidays during breaks in construction activity. In 1966, the space center partnered with Trans World Airlines (TWA) to operate an escorted bus tour program.

Trans World Airlines (TWA) operated the bus tour program at the Kennedy Space Center in the 1960s. (NASA/KSC Spaceport News)

The following year, the Visitor Information Center opened to the public. It featured indoor exhibition and presentation facilities, an outdoor “rocket garden” that became a popular backdrop for family photos, and a depot for the bus tour program. The architect included all the amenities a traveler might need, such as restrooms, food concessions, a gift shop, and a pay phone, which is now on display at our Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Shaped like a Mercury capsule, the pay phone was painted in a playful tropical teal color, which was en vogue at other Florida attractions at the time. Since 1967, the Visitor Information Center has continued to evolve and expand, reflecting developments in spaceflight and the evolving expectations of 21st century vacationers. Some 1.5 million people visit annually.

This phonebooth was installed at the Visitor Information Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center during the 1960s. (Smithsonian Institution)

Whether venturing to space, visiting a spaceport, or engaging in space-related recreation, individuals and families are likely to continue the tradition of incorporating space activities as part of their leisure time. As we enter the next chapter in the history of space tourism, questions about the significance of these experiences endure: What do “space tourists” hope to gain from their encounter with space or space sites? What does their choice of vacation destination say about their individual identities and the cultural significance of space? Who has access to these experiences and who is left out? And how will space tourism reshape communities on Earth as the industry evolves?

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Space Tourism: Can A Civilian Go To Space?

2021 has been a busy year for private space tourism: overall, more than 15 civilians took a trip to space during this year. In this article, you will learn more about the space tourism industry, its history, and the companies that are most likely to make you a space tourist.

What is space tourism?

Brief history of space tourism, space tourism companies, orbital and suborbital space flights, how much does it cost for a person to go to space, is space tourism worth it, can i become a space tourist, why is space tourism bad for the environment.

Space tourism is human space travel for recreational or leisure purposes . It’s divided into different types, including orbital, suborbital, and lunar space tourism.

However, there are broader definitions for space tourism. According to the Space Tourism Guide , space tourism is a commercial activity related to space that includes going to space as a tourist, watching a rocket launch, going stargazing, or traveling to a space-focused destination.

The first space tourist was Dennis Tito, an American multimillionaire, who spent nearly eight days onboard the International Space Station in April 2001. This trip cost him $20 million and made Tito the first private citizen who purchased his space ticket. Over the next eight years, six more private citizens followed Tito to the International Space Station to become space tourists.

As space tourism became a real thing, dozens of companies entered this industry hoping to capitalize on renewed public interest in space, including Blue Origin in 2000 and Virgin Galactic in 2004. In the 2000s, space tourists were limited to launches aboard Russian Soyuz aircraft and only could go to the ISS. However, everything changed when the other players started to grow up on the market. There are now a variety of destinations and companies for travels to space.

There are now six major space companies that are arranging or planning to arrange touristic flights to space:

• Virgin Galactic;
• Blue Origin;
• Axiom Space;
• Space Perspective.

While the first two are focused on suborbital flights, Axiom and Boeing are working on orbital missions. SpaceX, in its turn, is prioritizing lunar tourism in the future. For now, Elon Musk’s company has allowed its Crew Dragon spacecraft to be chartered for orbital flights, as it happened with the Inspiration4 3-day mission . Space Perspective is developing a different balloon-based system to carry customers to the stratosphere and is planning to start its commercial flights in 2024.

Orbital and suborbital flights are very different. Taking an orbital flight means staying in orbit; in other words, going around the planet continually at a very high speed to not fall back to the Earth. Such a trip takes several days, even a week or more. A suborbital flight in its turn is more like a space hop — you blast off, make a huge arc, and eventually fall back to the Earth, never making it into orbit. A flight duration, in this case, ranges from 2 to 3 hours.

Here is an example: a spaceflight takes you to an altitude of 100 km above the Earth. To enter into orbit — make an orbital flight — you would have to gain a speed of about 28,000 km per hour (17,400 mph) or more. But to reach the given altitude and fall back to the Earth — make a suborbital flight — you would have to fly at only 6,000 km per hour (3,700 mph). This flight takes less energy, less fuel; therefore, it is less expensive.

• Virgin Galactic: $250,000 for a 2-hour suborbital flight at an altitude of 80 km;
• Blue Origin: approximately $300,000 for 12 minutes suborbital flight at an altitude of 100 km;
• Axiom Space: $55 million for a 10-day orbital flight;
• Space Perspective: $125,000 for a 6-hour flight to the edge of space (32 km above the Earth).

The price depends, but remember that suborbital space flights are always cheaper.

What exactly do you expect from a journey to space? Besides the awesome impressions, here is what you can experience during such a trip:

• Weightlessness . Keep in mind that during a suborbital flight you’ll get only a couple of minutes in weightlessness, but it will be truly fascinating .
• Space sickness . The symptoms include cold sweating, malaise, loss of appetite, nausea, fatigue, and vomiting. Even experienced astronauts are not immune from it!
• G-force . 1G is the acceleration we feel due to the force of gravity; a usual g-force astronauts experience during a rocket launch is around 3gs. To understand how a g-force influences people , watch this video.

For now, the most significant barrier for space tourism is price. But air travel was also once expensive; a one-way ticket cost more than half the price of a new car . Most likely, the price for space travel will reduce overtime as well. For now, you need to be either quite wealthy or win in a competition, as did Sian Proctor, a member of Inspiration4 mission . But before spending thousands of dollars on space travel, here is one more fact you might want to consider.

Rocket launches are harmful to the environment in general. During the burning of rocket fuels, rocket engines release harmful gases and soot particles (also known as black carbon) into the upper atmosphere, resulting in ozone depletion. Think about this: in 2018 black-carbon-producing rockets emitted about the same amount of black carbon as the global aviation industry emits annually.

However, not all space companies use black carbon for fuel. Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket has a liquid hydrogen-fuelled engine: hydrogen doesn’t emit carbon but simply turns into water vapor when burning.

The main reason why space tourism could be harmful to the environment is its potential popularity. With the rising amount of rocket launches the carbon footprint will only increase — Virgin Galactic alone aims to launch 400 of these flights annually. Meanwhile, the soot released by 1,000 space tourism flights could warm Antarctica by nearly 1°C !

Would you want to become a space tourist? Let us know your opinion on social media and share the article with your friends, if you enjoyed it! Also, the Best Mobile App Awards 2021 is going on right now, and we would very much appreciate it if you would vote for our Sky Tonight app . Simply tap "Vote for this app" in the upper part of the screen. No registration is required!