Space Tourism Begins to Take Off

摘要

A record number of non-astronauts flew into space in 2021,including a 90-year-old actor,a physician’s assistant,a football player turned TV host,a Dutch teenager,and four billionaires.The companies that sent most of these civilians aloft-Virgin Galactic,Blue Origin,and SpaceX-hope the flights will inaugurate a boom in space tourism.Blue Origin,started by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos,claims it has sold nearly 100 million USD of tickets for upcoming trips[1],while 700 people have paid up to 450000USD apiece for places on future flights by Virgin Galactic,launched by British billionaire Richard Branson[2].