SpaceX aims to launch up to four tourists into a super high orbit, possibly by the end of next year. The company has partnered with Space Adventures for the all-tourist flight. Officials announced the first-of-its-kind mission on 2-25-2020. Space Adventures has already helped put tourists into orbit, working with the Russian space program.

     For one of the first commercial space flights, paying customers will skip the International Space Station, and instead orbit two to three times higher, or roughly 500 to 750 miles above Earth. Ticket prices are not being divulged, but are expected to be in the millions. SpaceX will use the same kind of Dragon capsule that will launch NASA astronauts to the space station.

     Dragon is a free-flying spacecraft designed to deliver both cargo and people to orbiting destinations. It is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth. Currently, Dragon carries cargo to space, but it was designed from the beginning to carry humans. The first demonstration flight under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program launched on March 2, 2019 at 2:49 a.m. ET. The Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the space station ahead of schedule at 6:02 a.m. ET on March 3, 2019, becoming the first American spacecraft in history to autonomously dock with the International Space Station.

     SpaceX  has moved its Crew Dragon commercial astronaut spacecraft to Florida, the site from which it’ll launch in likely just two to three months if all goes to plan. The Crew Dragon capsule is now going to undergo final testing and checkouts in Florida before its departure from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where it’ll launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket, with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley onboard.

      Behnken and Hurley will be taking a trip to the International Space Station (ISS) courtesy of the Crew Dragon, as part of a demonstration mission codenamed “Demo-2” by SpaceX and NASA,  which will serve as a key step in the ultimate verification of the spacecraft for regular service carrying people to and from the ISS. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is one of two spacecraft that aim to achieve this operational status for NASA, alongside the Boeing Starliner CST-100 crew vehicle, which is undergoing development and testing. 

     SpaceX has not yet released a date on when comercial flying will be approved, but they have high hopes it will be in the very near future.  While pricing is still in the millions, when most of Hellgate’s current students reach their mid fifties, it is expected that the prices will drop significantly and space travel/tourism will be very common at that point in time. While we must wait for what the future holds it is very likely that it holds space travel.