Contest winners are the most charmed group of space travelers, representing a fraction of the small number of humans who have reached space. They entered fundraising sweepstakes, crypto contests, and promotional campaigns that offered space travel as the hook. None had credentials that would qualify them for agency missions, and none needed them. Most space travel contest prizes are for 10-30 minute suborbital excursions that require no specialized training.

Commercial spaceflight has shifted from the rare civilian paying for a seat on Roscosmos missions in the early 2000s to today’s near-monthly flights operated by commercial spacelines. There have been 213 commercial passengers who reached space either paying Roscosmos or, more commonly, buying a seat on the commercial flights operated by Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and SpaceX.

Contest winners have flown on all three spacelines. Current prices illustrate the value of these flights. Today, Virgin Galactic suborbital seats just below the Kármán line cost $600K, Blue Origin suborbital seats just beyond the Kármán line cost about $1.9M, and SpaceX multi-day, orbital mission seats are priced at $55M.

These luck-driven selections stand apart from the merit-based competitions covered in our previous article, which awarded seats for leadership, outreach, or scientific contribution. According to Spaceport Lounge data, five commercial passengers have flown on fully paid seats won through random draw or lottery-style selection.

St. Jude’s Digital Raffle

Christopher Sembroski became the luckiest space travel winner when he joined SpaceX’s Inspiration4 multi-day mission in 2021, on a seat valued at $50M. St. Jude’s fundraising campaign entered donors into a drawing. A friend of Sembroski originally won but could not go, so he offered his place to Sembroski. It is the only orbital travel seat ever won in a mass-entry donation raffle.

The St. Jude sweepstakes drew about 72,000 entries and raised roughly $13 million, contributing to a total of more than $240 million generated for the hospital. This figure included a $100 million donation from mission commander Jared Isaacman, who was subsequently nominated to lead NASA as the next administrator.

Brazilian Crypto Draw
In 2022, the Brazilian crypto community Crypto Space Agency offered a Blue Origin New Shepard seat opportunity to holders of its NFT (non-fungible token) collection. Civil engineer Victor Correa Hespanha won the draw and became only the second Brazilian to reach space. The contest occurred during the peak of crypto’s consumer push.

Roughly five thousand NFT holders were eligible to participate. The promotion produced a rise in NFT sales and social engagement, giving the project attention setting it apart from other crypto initiatives.

The Virgin Galactic Sweepstakes
Virgin Galactic’s sweepstakes awarded mother and daughter Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers of Antigua and Barbuda two seats. Schahaff entered the 2021 sweepstakes and chose her daughter, a physics student, to join her. They flew on Galactic 02 in 2023, becoming the first mother and daughter in space and the first astronauts from their home country.

The sweepstakes attracted over 160,000 entrants and provided broad visibility for both the nonprofit and Virgin Galactic. It raised $1.7M to support Space for Humanity’s citizen astronaut program, in which several of the merit-based winners have been selected.

Austin Litteral: The Whatnot Livestream Giveaway
Live-commerce platform Whatnot ran a 2024 promotional giveaway of a Blue Origin New Shepard seat for its community of buyers and sellers. Users earned entries by watching streams and following creators. The winner was Kentucky resident and former Army reservist Austin Litteral. His New Shepard mission became the most retail-focused contest to date, created to increase participation on a growing commerce platform.

The giveaway generated millions of engagement-based entries and delivered strong visibility for Whatnot across social channels and tech news.

Current and Future Space Travel Contests
Companies are likely to continue using space travel as a promotional and fundraising tool when the exposure return justifies the investment. This mirrors long-standing use of travel sweepstakes, where exotic prizes draw attention and participation. Spaceflight offers a stronger version of that.

At the moment no open contests can be found that offer a seat to space. We will update this section as new opportunities appear, so be sure to check back.

One related contest, Spark into Space, is currently open through December 11, 2025. It does not include a spaceflight prize but offers a package built around the Space Coast that includes a hotel stay, visits to the Kennedy Space Center, an Astronaut Training Experience session, a meeting with a NASA astronaut, and several themed activities in the Orlando area.

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Sometime in June, Axiom Space will launch its fourth private mission, Ax-4, to the International Space Station (ISS). The flight features an international crew of three government-sponsored professional astronauts in contrast with Axiom’s first mission, in which three passengers each personally paid aproximately $55 million for the two-week experience. An Axiom commander with NASA experience has led all of the missions.

The $55M level is the current per-seat market rate for a multi-day stay in orbit, whether traveling to the ISS as a tourist or agency-sponsored astronaut, or sleeping aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon circling the planet, as in the recent Fram-2 and Polaris Dawn missions.

Axiom plays a unique role in space travel because, unlike SpaceX and Blue Origin, it does not operate rockets. Instead, it charters the Crew Dragon from SpaceX and negotiates with NASA for ISS services such as workspace, docking, and meals, wh…

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Blue Origin’s first all-female flight drew global attention through its celebrity participants, as intended, but also generated controversy across several fronts, from the use of the term “astronaut” to questions of environmental cost and authenticity. These critiques require closer examination to understand their validity.

Observing the Mission

The NS-31 mission, launched on April 14, 2025, brought together a roster of high-profile participants, including Katy Perry, Gayle King, Lauren Sánchez, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, and Kerianne Flynn. Read more about their backgrounds and accomplishments here.

Watching a Blue Origin mission from launch to landing requires only about 10 minutes and provides a deeper understanding of the pivotal shift in how we travel. Links to a few videos are included at the end of this artic…

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The first crewed mission to orbit Earth from pole to pole was funded by a private, global citizen with a passion for extreme environments—and the money to make it happen. When SpaceX’s Fram2 mission splashed down near Oceanside, California, yesterday, it completed a five-day journey across the poles and marked the beginning of something new: orbital travel as the next polar adventure accolade.

Fram2 carried a team of experienced Arctic and Antarctic professionals—adventurers who have skied to the ends of the Earth, built careers on exploring remote places, and now found a way to take that spirit to orbit. They didn’t earn their way to space through military training or doctoral research. They were invited by a friend, a fellow adventurer, who saw them as trustworthy colleagues, experts in their niche, and kindred spirits who would share the greatest possible appreciation fo…

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Hilton established an early, visionary long game strategy to achieve its dominance in space hospitality branding. This trajectory began with imaginative PR in the 1960s, self-propelled within pop culture, and is now transforming into actual deployment of its brand and designs in a private space station.

When Hilton Hotels appeared alongside Howard Johnson’s and Pan Am in Stanley Kubrick’s iconic 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), it may have seemed like a whimsical nod to the distant future of space travel. However, this cinematic moment was more than fiction—it helped associate Hilton with the future of space travel in the public imagination. Over time, such cultural references have supported Hilton’s early branding success in space hospitality.

More than 50 years later, Hilton is turning that moment into a competitive advantage. While other hospitality brands remain Earth-b…

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Launch

The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission launched on September 10, 2024 at 5:23 AM EDT from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The civilian crew includes Commander Jared Isaacman, Pilot Scott Poteet, Operations Engineer Sarah Gillis, and Medical Engineer Anna Menon. The mission's objectives are the first commercial spacewalk, testing SpaceX's spacesuit and Starlink laser communications, and studying space radiation while raising funds for St. Jude Children's Hospital.

Apogee

Polaris Dawn reached an apogee of 870 miles (three times higher than the ISS) marking the highest Earth altitude since Apollo 17 in 1972 and setting a record for the highest orbit ever achieved by female astronauts, demonstrating the potential of civilian spaceflight for future deep space missions.

Spacewalk

Polaris Dawn completed the first commercial spacewalk on September 13, 2024, lasting 26 minutes and 40 seconds. Isaacman and Gillis alternated spacewalks, performing mobility tests to evaluate new SpaceX's suits.

The two astronauts partially emerged from the hatch, maintaining contact with the capsule while conducting the tests. Poteet and Menon assisted from within the capsule, but also were exposed to the vacuum of space due to no airlock. Once all were back inside, the capsule was resealed and refilled with oxygen.

The half-emerged spacewalk may seem tame, but attempting the first civilian EVA in an unproven SpaceX suit, fully exposed to the hazardous conditions of space, is undeniably bold. In the clip below, Gillis is testing the flexibility of the suit.

Splashdown

The Polaris Dawn mission splashed down safely in the Gulf of Mexico on September 15, 2024, at 3:36 AM EDT, after 5 days in orbit.

If you enjoyed this post, check out Active, Curious, & Thirsty, an adventure travel blog.

By leading the first commercial spacewalk, Polaris Dawn is paving the way for the future of space tours and activities. Consider scuba diving as a terrestrial parallel, where specialized gear is necessary for oxygen and temperature control, allowing participants to safely explore new environments despite inherent risks. This article looks at how spacewalks have evolved and uses similarities with scuba diving to forecast their potential as a space tourism experience.

From a Daring Solo Endeavor to Habitat Assembly

Spacewalks, or EVAs, are not just technical feats but profound sensory experiences. To date, over 240 spacewalks have been performed by professional astronauts from around the world.

Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was the first to exit the shelter of a spacecraft, venturing out alone on March 18, 1965. He spent 12 minutes outside, tethered by a 5-meter-long cord, when a dangerous complication emerged. Leonov's suit had expanded and stiffened in the vacuum of space, making it impossible for him to re-enter the spacecraft through the narrow airlock.

Leonov took decisive action, manually venting oxygen from his suit to reduce the internal pressure, fully aware of the life-threatening danger of decompression sickness. Fortunately, his quick thinking paid off—the suit became flexible enough for him to squeeze back through the airlock to safety.

Spacewalks evolved from mere demos to critical operations that enabled the construction and maintenance of space stations. Anatoly Solovyev holds the record for the most spacewalks, with 16 EVAs totaling over 82 hours from 1988 to 1999. His work focused mainly on building and maintaining the Russian Mir space station, a precursor to the ISS.

NASA astronauts Susan Helms and Jim Voss, meanwhile, participated in the longest spacewalk to date—8 hours and 56 minutes on March 11, 2001—during the construction of the ISS. This grueling undertaking, which challenged the astronauts mentally and physically, was essential to install the ISS’s primary 28-foot laboratory.

The First Civilian Spacewalk

The Polaris Dawn spacewalk will be executed by commander Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis. Tethered to the spacecraft, they will perform the EVA while Scott Poteet and Anna Menon remain inside the Crew Dragon capsule for technical assistance. Although all are experienced in aviation and engineering, none have performed a spacewalk before, and only Isaacman has previous spaceflight experience. The lack of an airlock means that all four will be exposed to the hazards of space.

Another risk variable is that the SpaceX EVA suit has never been used in a spacewalk, making testing of the newly designed spacesuits a primary objective. These suits are not just critical safety features but are also designed to enhance mobility and functionality.

Special features include a helmet with a copper visor for sun protection, as well as impact-resistant and fog-resistant technology built into the helmet. The suits are made to be reusable with modular pieces that can be reconfigured for different astronauts.

The spacewalk is expected to last approximately two to three hours on day three of the five-day mission and will be viewable on the SpaceX YouTube channel.

How This Spacewalk Impacts Tourism

Scuba diving and spacewalks are similar in that both require participants to operate in hostile environments using pressurized suits—divers in wetsuits and astronauts in EVA suits—to protect against deep water pressure or the vacuum of space. Both also rely on life support systems: oxygen tanks for divers and built-in oxygen for astronauts.

Movement poses challenges in both, with divers managing buoyancy and astronauts navigating microgravity. Spacewalk training often uses neutral buoyancy pools, further linking the two. Both activities demand physical endurance, training, and constant situational awareness for safety.

A bit of conjecture is required to establish a spacewalk market price. Today, an all-inclusive trip to the ISS, including transportation and food, for a two-week stay, costs $55 million. Rounding off the numbers a bit, a Caribbean all-inclusive vacation comes in at about $5,500 per person. A two-tank dive in the Caribbean, including gear rental, averages about $200. Based on these ratios, ignoring for the moment actual operational costs, if spacewalks were commercially available today, they might be priced at around $2 million.

Would a billionaire tourist, already spending $55 million for an orbital stay on the ISS, pay an additional $2 million for the chance to perform a spacewalk? Almost certainly. It’s easy to envision a future at scale with reduced costs where groups of space tourists, tethered together with a guide, float outside a space station or a spaceport lounge.

The Polaris Dawn mission marks a pivotal moment in civilian space travel. The experience from this historic spacewalk could pave the way for leisure spacefarers to engage in an activity that was once reserved for highly trained astronauts. As space tourism evolves, spacewalks may become a common add-on excursion, enabling tourists to check "floating through space" off their bucket list.

Blue Origin’s NS-26 mission is scheduled for August 29, 2024. This 10-minute suborbital spaceflight will take six passengers on a journey past the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space. While at the apogee, the passengers unstrap from their seats, getting the opportunity to free float in weightlessness for about one minute.  Then it's a bumpy descent into Earth’s atmosphere followed by a parachute-assisted landing in the West Texas desert amid the Guadalupe Mountains.  

The mission, part of Blue Origin’s ongoing expansion of civilian space travel, is the eighth flight carrying space tourists, which will total 44 passengers after NS-26 is completed.  Notably, American Karsen Kitchen, whose father flew on a previous Blue Origin voyage, will become the youngest person, at 21 years old, to cross the 62 mile Karman Line. Anastatia Mayers from Antigua remains the youngest person, at 18 years old, to have crossed the FAA space boundary at 50 miles. 

Here’s how you can watch the launch along with brief bios of the six passengers below. 

How to Watch the Blue Origin NS-26 Launch

Live Stream

The NS-26 mission will be live-streamed on Blue Origin’s official website and YouTube channel. The live stream typically begins about an hour before the scheduled launch time, providing viewers with a detailed look at the pre-launch activities, including the crew’s arrival, boarding, and the final countdown.

• Where to Watch:

  • Blue Origin YouTube Channel

  • Summary Video:

Social Media Updates

For those who prefer real-time updates in text form, Blue Origin will be posting live updates on their Twitter and Instagram accounts. These platforms will feature photos, videos, and commentary throughout the mission. It’s a great way to stay informed if you can’t watch the live stream.

• Twitter: @blueorigin

• Instagram: @blueorigin

The Spacefarers 

Nicolina Elrick 

Nicolina is a philanthropist and entrepreneur whose career spans high fashion modeling to property development and founding multiple IT start-ups in the 1990s. Based in Singapore, Nicolina is a certified helicopter pilot and a spirited explorer. 

Rob Ferl

Rob is a distinguished professor and director of the Astraeus Space Institute at the University of Florida. He has spent his career studying how living organisms respond to extreme conditions, especially microgravity. His team was also the first to prove that plants could grow in lunar soil collected during the Apollo missions. Rob received funding through a NASA TechFlights grant by the agency’s Flight Opportunities program 

Eugene Grin

Eugene was born in Ukraine and emigrated to the United States in 1979, where he started his career in real estate and finance. He works as a fund manager at Laurus Capital Management. 

Dr. Eiman Jahangir

Eiman is a cardiologist and Associate Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he treats patients with heart disease and educates future physicians. Over the past two decades, Eiman has participated in analog astronaut missions and trained in various aspects of human spaceflight.  Eiman's seat is sponsored by MoonDAO, an organization whose mission is to accelerate a multiplanetary future. 

Karsen Kitchen

Karsen is poised to make history as the youngest woman ever, at 21 years of age, to cross the Kármán line. A senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Karsen is majoring in Communications and Astronomy. After graduation, she intends to pursue a career in the space industry. In 2024, she founded Orbitelle, an initiative to encourage women to pursue careers in the space industry. Her father, Jim Kitchen, flew to space on Blue Origin’s NS-20 mission in 2022.   

Ephraim Rabin

Ephraim is an American-Israeli businessman, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Parchem Fine & Specialty Chemicals, a technology company revolutionizing supply chains for specialized raw materials and ingredients globally. Ephraim is a trustee and mentor at a variety of organizations and think tanks, as well as a race car driver, chef, and avid skier and adventurer. 

Next week is an unusual week with two private space launches. SpaceX Polaris Dawn and Blue Origin NS-26 scheduled within days of each other. Up to date details on both missions will be available in the Upcoming Events section, but only this post will be sent by email.

Polaris Dawn is an extraordinary mission as it features the first-ever all-civilian spacewalk.  What makes it even more dramatic is the newly developed SpaceX spacesuit, which the relatively inexperienced four-person crew will use, has never been used on a spacewalk before. The Crew Dragon spacecraft does not have an airlock, which means all occupants of the capsule will be exposed to the vacuum of space during the event. All of these factors heighten the unknown element of risk.  

Launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, it’s the second mission funded by Shift4 billionaire and accomplished private jet pilot Jared Isaacman. He will be joined by his sidekick Scott Poteet and two SpaceX employees, Sarah Gillis and Anna Mennon. 

If you have some free time this weekend before the launch, we strongly suggest binging Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space on Netflix. It follows Jared Issacman’s first orbital SpaceX mission in 2021 and features the other members of the Polaris Dawn crew in supporting roles in the previous mission. It is a great opportunity to get to know the crew before their launch next week, as the mission is expected to generate daily headlines.

How to Watch the Polaris Dawn Mission Live

The Polaris Dawn mission will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. You can watch the mission live through the following channels:

1. SpaceX YouTube will broadcast the launch live. The stream typically begins about 30 minutes before the scheduled launch time, offering viewers insights into the mission, commentary from experts, and live footage of the launch.

2. Space.com will also provide live updates and streaming links. They offer in-depth coverage and expert analysis, making it an excellent resource for those who want more context on the mission.

3. Rocketlaunch.live offers detailed timing information and live streaming options for the launch. It’s a reliable source for anyone interested in the technical aspects of the launch sequence and mission milestones as well as a schedule of all upcoming launches.  

These channels will provide comprehensive coverage, including pre-launch commentary, live feeds from the launch site, and post-launch analysis.

What It Means for Space Tourism 

This is definitely not a tourist excursion, however, Polaris Dawn is set to conduct the first-ever spacewalk by a civilian crew. If successful, this could open the door for space tourists to experience similar extravehicular activities (EVAs) in the future, adding a thrilling new dimension to space tourism. The development and testing of new spacesuits specifically designed for civilian use are critical steps toward making spacewalks a routine part of space tourism. 

Once developed for broader civilian use, spacewalks will be the first true excursions outside of a spacecraft or the Space Station. These EVA’s along with lunar rover excursions, are the most obvious possibilities for space tours and activities. 

The Polaris Dawn Crew

The Polaris Dawn mission crew is a team of four highly skilled individuals, each bringing unique expertise to this historic endeavor. Here’s a brief look at the crew members:

Jared Isaacman (Commander): Jared Isaacman, an American billionaire entrepreneur, philanthropist, and pilot, is the mission commander. Isaacman is no stranger to space travel, having previously funded and commanded the Inspiration4 mission in 2021, the first all-civilian orbital spaceflight. His vision for Polaris Dawn is to push the boundaries of private space exploration while raising funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Scott "Kidd" Poteet (Pilot): An American retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, Scott Poteet serves as the pilot for Polaris Dawn. Poteet has a distinguished military career, including flying F-16 fighter jets and serving in various leadership roles. 

Sarah Gillis (Mission Specialist): Sarah Gillis, American, is a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX and one of the mission specialists on Polaris Dawn. She has played a critical role in training NASA and SpaceX astronauts, preparing them for missions aboard the Dragon spacecraft. 

Anna Menon (Mission Specialist): Anna Menon, American, also a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX, serves as the second mission specialist. Menon has extensive experience in spaceflight operations, particularly in crew communications and mission planning. 

Overview of the Polaris Dawn Mission Objectives

Polaris Dawn is not just another space mission; it’s a pioneering venture aimed at pushing the boundaries of what private space travel can achieve. Here are the key objectives of the mission:

• First All-Civilian Spacewalk: Two crew members will exit the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and conduct a series of tasks in the vacuum of space. 

• Testing New Spacesuits: These suits are designed to protect astronauts from the harsh conditions of space, including extreme temperatures and micrometeoroid impacts. 

• Scientific Research:  Experiments will focus on the effects of space travel on the human body, as well as the performance of various technologies in the space environment. 

• Raising Funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital: Similar to the Inspiration4 mission, Polaris Dawn is also a fundraising endeavor for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The mission aims to raise millions of dollars to support the hospital’s work in treating and curing pediatric catastrophic diseases. You can donate here.  

• Exploring New Orbits: Polaris Dawn will take the crew to a higher orbit than any previous commercial mission, reaching approximately 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) above Earth. 

The Polaris Dawn mission represents a significant advance in private space exploration. You have the opportunity to witness history in the making.