Who Flew Commercial to Space in 2024?

A Majority Tourists and Many Agency Astronauts -- A Few Still Stranded There

Jared Isaacman, civilian astronaut, after funding and leading the ambitious Polaris Dawn Mission. He was recently nominated to head NASA. Photo: rookisacman Instagram

Spaceport Lounge’s proprietary database shows that private space travel and tourism continued to grow at a healthy pace in 2024, with a 19% increase in passengers compared to the previous year. The rapid surge that began in 2021 has leveled off somewhat, but is expected to accelerate again when new spacecraft from multiple spacelines become operational in the coming years.

There were a total of 11 missions with 43 passengers that involved private space travel – meaning anyone traveling on private spacecraft or civilians traveling on space agency spacecraft.

Passenger Count by Destination

• 26 space tourists on short voyages just beyond the edge of space

• 13 space agency astronauts transported to the ISS

• 4 private astronauts to a record apogee in low Earth orbit

Passenger Totals by Spaceline/Agency

• Blue Origin: 18

• SpaceX: 14

• Virg…