Spaceport Lounge is for people who believe that commercial space travel is coming their way as a tourist, a service provider, or even as an industry traveler, because all of these things are already happening and gaining momentum.
Consider that on average only one person per year engaged in space tourism during its first decade starting in the propitious year of 2001. That was when American billionaire Dennis Tito convinced the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, to fly him to and host him on the International Space Station (ISS) after NASA wouldn’t bite. This orbital jaunt cost him an estimated $20M then (today’s price is $55M) including a lengthy training stint in which he learned basic Russian to enable him to interact with the cosmonauts on the ISS.
The passenger number has grown to 20 per year over the past three years, ranging from multi-millionaires (you don’t have to be a billionaire anymore, an important trend to note), to contest winners, to non-rev spaceline employees whose impetus is similar to our friends and colleagues who work at airlines. Most of these trips go just beyond the boundary of space for a weightless float of 1-2 minutes at a current cost of $450K-$1.2M per passenger.
How high can that passenger number go? Northern Sky Research estimated that 40,000 people will travel to space by 2030 based on passenger volume increases from Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, among others. Whether that volume is achieved or not, it is certainty that flights will increase, and as they do, the costs should decrease, and more people of different means will be able to afford to go.
Spaceport Lounge’s content will focus on a select range of topic areas including The Basics, Space Travelers, Lifestyle, Spacenomics, and an Events Calendar. Content for these sections is in development and will be published as weekly posts moving forward.
Launch Pad
This section contains the fundamental blocks to learn the basics of commercial space travel. These introductory articles will be updated regularly so there is a source for accessible comparative information available on commercial space travel. It includes things like the options available, how much they cost, training and activities, and which companies provide them. We are developing a list of FAQ’s for clarification, especially for key terms that are important to understand the basic differences in the options available.
Space Travelers
The 100+ people who have traveled to space as commercial passengers so far are recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for commercial human space flight. The first thirty of these spacefarers were recognized with astronaut wings by the FAA, however the policy was changed in 2021 with a pragmatic view that the projected passenger growth would make such the astronaut wings program unsustainable and not as relevant.
These pioneering space travelers are fascinating people, who assume unknown risks in their journeys, and as a group they fall into the outlier of human excellence and inspiration. In addition to segmentation and cohort analysis, Spaceport Lounge will share profiles and interviews in upcoming posts.
Space Lifestyle
Spaceport Lounge strives to be a standard bearer of Space Lifestyle as we relate the evolution of cuisine, accommodations, activities, living environment, clothing, gear, art, and literature.
Spacenomics
Spaceport Lounge will delve into the economics of space travel including historical performance and projections of the companies involved in variables such as revenue, market share, and costs.
Events Calendar
Our events calendar will be an easy reference tool for you to use to track and follow commercial space launches, ongoing activities such as parabolic flight, and major on-Earth events such as unique space exhibitions.
Our objective at Spaceport Lounge is to build the most valuable Space Travel & Lifestyle platform possible, building it from the atoms up as Elon Musk would suggest. Your feedback is important to us. Please share your input with us via email to: spaceportlounge@substack.com