New York (CNN Business)A space revolution is upon us — so says the new wave of tech entrepreneurs pledging to colonize the cosmos.
Several
billionaires and their hard-charging rocket companies say the tiny
roster of humans — 573, by the count of space expert Jonathan McDowell —
who have flown to space is about to get much longer. They promise that
more Average Joes can have experiences long relegated to highly trained
astronauts.
But the
galactically curious should take heed: Space travel will probably remain
prohibitively expensive for anyone outside the 1% for a long, long
time.
A stay on the International
Space Station costs tens of millions of dollars. A group called Space
Adventures has offered wealthy individuals the opportunity to fly to the
station aboard Russian-built rockets, and so far seven clients have
made the trek. Most recently, Cirque Du Soleil billionaire Guy Laliberte
paid $35 million
to spend a couple weeks in space. And after NASA announced earlier this
year it would open the US portion of the ISS to private astronauts,
Bigelow Aerospace said it would coordinate rides for $52 million a seat.
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