spacex trip to space cost

Space Tourism: How Much Does it Cost & Who's Offering It?

Last Updated: December 17, 2022

Many of us dream of going to space and over 600 people have traveled to space as astronauts in government-funded agencies such as NASA, the European Space Agency, and Roscosmos. But how much does spaceflight cost in today and how is that expected to change in the coming years? 

With new advancements in spaceflight technology, the costs of space travel are decreasing, making the dream of spaceflight a little closer for us all.

Evolution of Spaceflight Costs and Technologies

During the space race, the cost of sending something into space averaged between $6,000 to over $25,000 per kg of weight not adjusted for inflation and NASA spent $28 billion to land astronauts on the moon, about $288 billion in today’s dollars.

In recent decades, it has averaged around $10,000 per kg though certain missions have been higher due to other factors including the destination, the size of the rocket, the amount of fuel needed, and the cost of fuel. 

After the retirement of the space shuttle program, NASA paid Russia to transport astronauts to the ISS at about $80 million per seat on the Soyuz rocket. NASA’s biggest and newest rocket, the SLS (Space Launch System) which is currently being utilized for the new moon missions including Artemis and Orion, currently costs about $2-4 billion per launch.

But recent years and the addition of private space companies have drastically changed the game. NASA allowed private space companies to develop equipment for missions, including a 2006 partnership with SpaceX under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to provide resupply for crew and cargo demonstration contracts to the International Space Station (ISS). 

This partnership has continued to flourish over the years with SpaceX successfully launching two NASA astronauts in May 2020 on a Crew Dragon Spacecraft, making SpaceX the first private company to send astronauts to the ISS and the first crewed orbital launch from American soil in 9 years.

With the revolutionary technology of reusable boosters from SpaceX, the cost has plummeted, achieving less than $1,600 per kg with the Falcon Heavy (still totaling more than $100 million per launch) and even a projected cost of under a thousand for their next generation model Star Ship.

 These recent innovations are even making SLS the more expensive, less efficient option if SpaceX’s projections continue to progress as expected within margins of error. We shall see how NASA plans to adapt goals in light of this.

The Falcon Heavy is a cost-effective option for launching payloads into space.

The rise of private space companies

With private space companies, the opportunity for civilians to book a trip to space similar to booking a flight came closer to reality. Dennis Tito was the first private citizen to pay for a trip to space with a trip to the ISS from April 28th to May 6th, 2001 for $20 million dollars. Tito purchased his experience through Space Adventures Inc. which was founded in 1998 and offers a variety of different space experiences. They even acquired Zero Gravity Corporation, NASA’s provider of Reduced Gravity Training (not in space) for its astronauts, in 2008. They offer similar experiences for private individuals starting at about $8,200 as of this publishing (December 2022).

Space Adventures sent seven other space tourists to the ISS through 2009, but due to a number of factors, Space Adventures had to put their ISS offerings on hold until 2021 when they were able to purchase two Soyuz seats due to NASA moving their contract to SpaceX. Space Adventures sent two people to the ISS via the Roscosmos Soyuz rocket in December 2021 and is working on expanding its offerings.

In addition to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, there are a number of other private space companies getting into the commercial spaceflight/ space tourism market, most notably Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origins.

Flight Providers & Rates

What are the current rates for commercial spaceflight tickets? What commercial spaceflight trips have already happened? All prices are per person/ per seat.

SpaceX has had the most experience in sending humans to space thanks to its partnership with NASA and Musk has made it clear that he wants to make space travel an option for the public. To date, SpaceX has offered two commercial spaceflight options and has one big one planned for the future:

• SpaceX completed a Multi-Day Orbital Voyage, the first of their new plan to offer private astronaut experiences through their NASA partnership.  
• Estimated $55 million for a 3-day stay inside a modified SpaceX Dragon capsule orbiting the Earth at 357 miles (574 km) with three crewmates, sponsored by billionaire Jared Isaacman to raise money for St Jude’s Children’s Hospital
• Partnership between SpaceX and Houston-based Axiom Space Inc.
• $55 million for a 10-day trip to ISS at 408 km with a weeklong (8-day) stay in the orbital lab. 
• Expected to continue in 2023
• Axiom plans to build a stand-alone space station to replace the ISS with the first module expected to launch in 2024.
• Steve Aoki: American DJ and record producer
• Everyday Astronaut Tim Dodd: American science communicator, content creator, photographer, and musician
• Yemi A.D.: Czech choreographer, art director and performer
• Rhiannon Adam: Irish photographer
• Karim Iliya: British photographer and filmmaker
• Brendan Hall: American filmmaker and photographer
• Dev Joshi: Indian television actor
• Choi Seung-hyun (stage name: T.O.P.): South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor
• Cost is unknown, likely a minimum of $500 million

2. Blue Origin

Blue Origin: currently offers a 100km 12-minute ride to the Karman Line, the recognized boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space; pricing is still unclear and dependent on a variety of factors 

• On July 2021, Jeff and Mark Bezos went into space on the New Shepard rocket with Oliver Daemen (who won the trip through an auction bid of around 28 million) and honored guest Wally Funk (a member of Mercury 13, the private program in which women trained to be astronauts but ultimately never went to space)
• Blue Origin has completed 6 commercial space flights as of this publishing. Some “honorable guests” have been invited free of charge, such as Funk and actor William Shatner (Captain Kirk from the original Star Trek). Some have been sponsored or have received special deals due to their nonprofit status.
• $28 million winning auction bid for the first flight ( $19 million was donated)
• $1 million for a board member of a nonprofit
• About $1.25 for a Dude Perfect comedy group crew member, hosted by MoonDAO in August 2022

3. Virgin Galactic Subortbital Joy Ride

Virgin Galactic Subortbital Joy Ride: $450,000 for a 90-minute ride to suborbital space 50km above sea level 

• In July 2021, founder Richard Branson flew to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere with two pilots and three other Virgin Galactic employees as the first test of commercial spaceflight for the company
• Each VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo carries up to four passengers
• Expected flights are currently anticipated to begin in 2023 
• Includes training accommodations and amenities; launches from New Mexico

4. Roscosmos/ Space Adventures Customized ISS Trip

Roscosmos/ Space Adventures Customized ISS Trip: $50-60million for a 12-day trip to the ISS at 408 km

• In October 2021 an actress and director shot scenes for the first movie filmed in space
• December 2021 Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano for two days (same billionaire planning to go to the moon with SpaceX)
• With the current situation between Russia and Ukraine, this option is effectively nonexistent currently

5. Space Perspective

Space Perspective: a six-hour balloon ride to space/ the stratosphere on their “Spaceship Neptune” at $125,000

• Rides are currently scheduled to begin by the end of 2024. 
• A pressurized capsule will be slowly lifted by a football-field-sized hydrogen-filled balloon 19 miles (30 km) into the stratosphere, about 3 times the altitude of commercial planes. 
• The passenger cabin features a bar, bathroom, and windows for sightseeing and is expected to carry 8 passengers and 1 pilot per trip.

6. Aurora Space Station (no longer in development)

Aurora Space Station was supposed to be the world’s first luxury space hotel, offering a 12-day stay for $9.5 million allowing them to free float, observe space and earth, practice hydroponics and play in a hologram deck, but they shut down operations and refunded all deposits in March 2021. They received a lot of media attention and therefore are noted here due to that notoriety.

Conclusion: the current cost of flying to space

Currently, it is only available to those who can spend an average of $250,000 to $500,000 for suborbital trips (about a fifteen-minute ride to the edge of space and back) or flights to actual orbit at more than $50 million per seat (though typically a longer trip than 15 minutes).

It could be free/ discounted if you can find a sponsor, often for nonprofit/ charity purposes, or if you are someone of notoriety that can help spread the company’s mission. 

Waitlists are available for most offerings, with a deposit, with many stretching years into the future, which might end up helping you have a spot at a more reasonable price in the future if you can save up.

Many companies are looking to provide extended stay options on private space stations in the future, similar to how you might book a flight somewhere and stay in a hotel for a few days. Again, for the immediate future, this is estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars. The biggest portion of the cost would be launching them, though it is still estimated that a couple million dollars will be needed to cover the expenses of your stay while you are on the space station, whether that is included in the ticket price or added on top of that.

Many companies are hopeful they can eventually price a trip to space down to $100,000 but that will likely take some time, even with the cost-saving measures of reusable boosters. Many forms of recent technology have evolved exponentially in recent years and with dropping price rates as well. Just as plane travel was originally prohibitively expensive, but has now become fairly reasonable for the average consumer, the hope is that the same will eventually happen with space tourism, but we will have to see how long that takes. 

While the possibility of going to space is still out of reach for many of us, hopefully, the advancements in recent years and those yet to come will help to continually lower the costs of going to space, just as has occurred in many other fields. This author, for one, truly hopes that the interest of the elite who are currently able to participate in these offerings will spur research and development, not just of space tourism but space exploration in general, to help fuel a quicker journey to space access for all

Written by Sarah Hoffschwelle

Sarah Hoffschwelle is a freelance writer who covers a combination of topics including astronomy, general science and STEM, self-development, art, and societal commentary. In the past, Sarah worked in educational nonprofits providing free-choice learning experiences for audiences ages 2-99. As a lifelong space nerd, she loves sharing the universe with others through her words. She currently writes on Medium at  https://medium.com/@sarah-marie  and authors self-help and children’s books.

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SpaceX tourist trips to space station reportedly to cost $55M each

Axiom Space signed a contract with Elon Musk's rocket company, and could bring tourists to space in 2021.

Getting up to the International Space Station could cost you $55 million.

A trio of space tourists will blast off to the International Space Station (ISS) in a SpaceX capsule, after Axiom Space made a deal with Elon Musk's company on Thursday. The first 10-day trip could happen in the latter half of next year, the company said in a release .

However, it won't be cheap -- a seat could set you back around $55 million, the New York Times reported , and one person has already signed up. Two days will be spent traveling to and from the space station, and eight on board. The tourists will be accompanied by an Axiom astronaut who'll make sure they don't distract the ISS crewmembers.

"This will be just the first of many missions to ISS to be completely crewed and managed by Axiom Space -- a first for a commercial entity,"  Axiom boss Michael T. Suffredini said in a statement. "Procuring the transportation marks significant progress toward that goal, and we're glad to be working with SpaceX in this effort."

The company didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the cost of a trip.

Axiom is the second space tourism company SpaceX has signed a contract with in recent weeks -- Space Adventures said it'll launch private citizens to orbit in a Crew Dragon capsule too. That orbital flight will last up to five days, but won't dock with the ISS.

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How much are SpaceX tourists actually paying to fly around the Moon?

The short answer: a lot.

By Rachel Becker

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Two mystery space tourists put down a “ significant deposit ” with SpaceX to take a round-trip around the Moon, CEO Elon Musk announced yesterday . Musk didn’t say much about the two unidentified passengers, let alone how much money they’re shelling out for their Moon voyage. Turns out, it’s remarkably difficult to guess the costs of human spaceflight.

“There’s not just a line item that says, ‘Send this person to space.’”

That’s because, unsurprisingly, there’s a lot that goes into launching someone into space. There are the obvious costs: the spacecraft, the rocket, and the fuel. But then there are the less obvious, just as key, costs: the years and equipment needed to train the astronauts, building and maintaining the launchpad, paying the people on the ground in mission control, having rescue plans and personnel ready to get the astronauts or space tourists to safety if there’s an emergency. And that’s just the short list.

“It’s always a more complex answer,” Daniel Huot, a spokesperson for NASA, tells The Verge . “There’s not just a line item that says, ‘Send this person to space.’”

Here’s what we do know: while Musk wouldn’t specify an exact price, he did say that the around-the-Moon mission could cost roughly the same or a bit more than a crewed trip to the International Space Station. SpaceX declined an emailed request for clarification.

So what does that mean? Right now NASA pays the Russian space agency Roscosmos about $81 million and change for a round-trip ticket in a Soyuz capsule . The latest five seats NASA bought in bulk were a little cheaper, about $74.7 million per seat . Another spokesperson for NASA, Kathryn Hambleton, told The Verge in an email that the ticket price includes:

• Training to operate the spacecraft
• Use of the launchpad and launch support services
• Flight control, docking, and undocking services
• Air, consumables, and life support en route
• Standby emergency services for a rescue in orbit, or during landing
• Medical services after landing
• The variable weight of the crew and their cargo to and from the station

The reason why NASA relies on Roscosmos is that the US space agency hasn’t had a vehicle of its own to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS since 2011, when the Space Shuttle program was shuttered. NASA is hoping the $81 million price tag will drop in the future by partnering with private companies like SpaceX and Boeing through the Commercial Crew Program .

NASA estimates that a round-trip ticket to the ISS on the SpaceX Crew Dragon or the Boeing CST-100 Starliner would cost about $58 million . A spokesperson for Boeing could not confirm the ticket price, and SpaceX declined to comment.

How much would this longer trip cost?

A one-way trip to the ISS, however, covers a distance of roughly 220 miles . Musk said yesterday that the SpaceX lunar trip would brush past the surface of the Moon and venture deeper into space, before looping back to Earth — a distance of approximately 300,000 to 400,000 miles . (It’s not clear how they arrived at those numbers, considering that a one-way trip to the Moon when it’s closest to Earth is about 225,623 miles, according to NASA .)

How much would this much longer trip cost? Space Adventures , a travel agency that arranges space journeys with Roscosmos for private citizens, tells The Verge the price tag is more than double the cost of a trip to the ISS: about $175 million dollars per seat. The company, which has already sent seven individuals to the space station, plans to send tourists around the Moon by 2020 — and that’s how much they’re going to charge.

“We cannot be more specific as there are many variables, including destination, vehicle, duration and other options,” Stacey Tearne, a spokesperson for Space Adventures, wrote in an email to The Verge .

One of the variables, which could shoot up the price of any space mission , is of course, delays. And as we know, Musk has a bit of a problem with deadlines .

Update 1:10PM EST, 2/28: Updated to reflect the fact that a SpaceX spokesperson replied to emailed inquiries after the story was published, but declined to comment.

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What a Ticket on Jeff Bezos’ Rocket Will Cost You

Possibly less than you think.

Jeff Bezos and three other passengers spent roughly 10 minutes Tuesday morning flying on a round trip to space in the New Shepard, a rocket ship built by the billionaire’s aerospace company Blue Origin. The New Shepard took off at around 9:12 a.m. from its launch site near Van Horn, Texas, and flew just above the Kármán Line, a boundary 100 kilometers above the ground that many consider to demarcate the earth from space. After spending a few minutes in zero gravity, the crew descended back down to earth in the New Shepard capsule.

The flight was Blue Origin’s first with people aboard. In its publicity for the mission, the company has said that it wants to send more people into space and will soon start selling tickets, though details about the price and purchasing process are scarce. Other private space companies like Virgin Galactic and SpaceX are planning to sell seats on their vessels, as well. Since 2001, when businessman Dennis Tito became the first person ever to pay for a trip to space, the space tourism industry has seen ups and downs as companies struggled to find ways to make it commercially viable. So far, only a handful of people have been able to pay their way into space. (Even NSYNC singer Lance Bass wasn’t able to raise the $20 million he needed to fly with a Russian space crew in 2002 .) Now, the richest people in the world seem dead set on making regular private space flights a reality. Does this really hail a new era for more widely available trips to space?

At least in the near future, civilians aspiring to visit the cosmos will have to be well-connected or have hundreds of thousands, and perhaps even millions, of dollars to spare. Only one seat was up for sale on the New Shepard for Tuesday’s flight. An anonymous bidder won it in an auction in June for $28 million , though they were unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict and will instead join a future flight. The seat ultimately went to Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands who became the youngest person ever to visit space. His father, the CEO of a private equity firm, had also bid on the seat and was eventually able to buy it when the winner dropped out. However, Blue Origin has not disclosed how much the elder Daemen paid. The other two passengers were Jeff Bezos’ brother Mark and Wally Funk, a renowned aviator who trained as an astronaut in the 1960s before the U.S. government canned its “women in space” program.

Besides the $28 million figure, Blue Origin has been fairly tight-lipped about its pricing, though it did say on Tuesday that ticket sales are now open to the general public and directed interested customers to email [email protected] . Blue Origin did not respond to an inquiry about the price of tickets, though Reuters reported that the company initially estimated in 2018 that they would run for $200,000 to $300,000. Bezos also said at a press conference after his flight that “the demand is very, very high” for seats and that Blue Origin has already reached $100 million in private sales, meaning that the company will have to schedule more trips and build more rockets. There are plans for two more flights carrying civilians this year.

Flights through other space tourism services will also cost you at least a few hundred thousand dollars. Virgin Galactic was initially offering ticket reservations for $250,000 and managed to sell about 600 of them before stopping in 2014 due to a test crash. Following its first spaceflight carrying human passengers last week (including founder Richard Branson), the company is expected to reopen ticket sales soon at a higher price for when it starts flying people regularly in 2022 . (At the moment, people can place a $1,000 deposit to reserve a ticket.) Analysts estimate that they’ll ultimately cost between $300,000 and $400,000. At a presentation to investors in 2019 , however, Virgin Galactic executives signaled that after this initial hike, their long-term goal was to drastically lower prices to make the service available to a wider range of people—that is, they hope to be able to do business with the rich instead of just the uber-rich. In discussing the size of the market for tickets, they mused that 1.78 million people had a net worth of more than $10 million and could hypothetically afford a $100,000 ticket, while 5.07 million people have a net worth of more than $5 million and might be willing to pay $50,000 for a ticket.

Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin are only offering suborbital flights, though. If you want to spend more than just a few minutes in space, you’ll likely have to pay tens of millions of dollars. The space tourism company Axiom is flying three people early next year to the International Space Station in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule and will stay there for eight nights; seats are $55 million a pop. That includes the $35,000 per-night cost of living at the space station to cover the cost of life support systems and power. While that rate could get you a suite with a basketball court or bowling alleys in Las Vegas , the Axiom crew will reportedly be spending their nights in sleeping bags.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate , New America , and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.

SpaceX launches 3 visitors to space station for $55 million each

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SpaceX launched three rich businessmen and their astronaut escort to the International Space Station on Friday for more than a week’s stay, as NASA joins Russia in hosting guests at the world’s most expensive tourist destination .

It’s SpaceX’s first private charter flight to the orbiting lab after two years of carrying astronauts there for NASA.

Arriving at the space station Saturday will be an American, a Canadian and an Israeli who run investment, real estate and other companies. They’re paying $55 million apiece for the rocket ride and accommodations, all meals included.

Russia has been hosting tourists at the space station — and before that the Mir station — for decades. Just last fall, a Russian movie crew flew up, followed by a Japanese fashion tycoon and his assistant.

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NASA is finally getting into the act, after years of opposing space station visitors.

“It was a hell of a ride,” said former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, the chaperone, on reaching orbit.

The visitors’ tickets include access to all but the Russian portion of the space station — they’ll need permission from the three cosmonauts on board. Three Americans and a German also live up there.

Lopez-Alegria plans to avoid talking about politics and the war in Ukraine while he’s at the space station.

“I honestly think that it won’t be awkward. I mean maybe a tiny bit,” he said. He expects the “spirit of collaboration will shine through.”

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The private Axiom Space company arranged the visit with NASA for its three paying customers: Larry Connor of Dayton, Ohio, who runs the Connor Group; Mark Pathy, founder and chief executive of Montreal’s Mavrik Corp.; and Israel’s Eytan Stibbe, a former fighter pilot and founding partner of Vital Capital.

Before the launch, their enthusiasm was obvious: Stibbe did a little dance when he arrived at the rocket at Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX and NASA have been upfront with them about the risks of spaceflight, said Lopez-Alegria, who spent seven months at the space station 15 years ago.

“There’s no fuzz, I think, on what the dangers are or what the bad days could look like,” Lopez-Alegria told the Associated Press before the flight.

Each visitor has a full slate of experiments to conduct during their nine to 10 days there, one reason they don’t like to be called space tourists.

“They’re not up there to paste their nose on the window,” said Axiom’s co-founder and president, Michael Suffredini, a former NASA space station program manager.

The three businessmen are the latest to take advantage of the opening of space to those with deep pockets. Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin is taking customers on 10-minute rides to the edge of space, while Virgin Galactic expects to start flying customers on its rocket ship later this year.

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Friday‘s flight is the second private charter for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which took a billionaire and his guests on a three-day orbit ride last year.

Axiom is targeting next year for its second private flight to the space station. More customer trips will follow, with Axiom adding its own rooms to the orbiting complex beginning in 2024. After about five years, the company plans to detach its compartments to form a self-sustaining station — one of several commercial outposts intended to replace the space station once it’s retired and NASA shifts to the moon.

At an adjacent pad during Friday’s launch: NASA’s new moon rocket, which is awaiting completion of a dress rehearsal for a summertime test flight.

As a gift for their seven station hosts, the four visitors are taking up paella and other Spanish cuisine prepared by celebrity chef José Andrés. The rest of their time at the station, NASA’s freeze-dried chow will have to do.

The automated SpaceX capsule is due back with the four on April 19.

Connor is honoring Ohio’s air and space legacy, taking up a fabric swatch from the Wright brothers’ 1903 Kitty Hawk flyer and gold foil from the Apollo 11 command module from the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta.

Only the second Israeli in space, Stibbe will continue a thunderstorm experiment begun by the first — Ilan Ramon, who died aboard shuttle Columbia in 2003. They were in the same fighter pilot squadron.

Stibbe is carrying copies of recovered pages of Ramon’s space diary, as well as a song composed by Ramon’s musician son and a painting of pages falling from the sky by his daughter.

“To be a part of this unique crew is a proof for me that there’s no dream beyond reach,” he said.

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How much will a ticket to space cost?

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William Shatner was beamed up into space on Wednesday morning, along with three other passengers, as part of Blue Origin’s second launch into space with tourists. 

Shatner, who returned with the crew after an 11-minute flight on the New Shepard, became the oldest person to go into space at age 90. 

The highly publicized event marks an aggressive push from some companies to enter the realm of commercial space travel. Blue Origin auctioned off a seat on its first spaceflight, which took place back in July and included billionaire founder Jeff Bezos, for $28 million . 

Bezos said that the company has sold $100 million in tickets for future flights. Back in 2018, Reuters said that Bezos had planned to charge between $200,000 to $300,000 per ticket for a spaceflight. 

Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic said it’s reopened ticket sales for flights a t $450,000 a pop. The spaceflight company, whose billionaire founder Richard Branson also ventured into space in July, has ambitions to open commercial flights next year. 

“As we endeavour to bring the wonder of space to a broad global population, we are delighted to open the door to an entirely new industry and consumer experience,” said Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier in a statement. 

The company previously sold tickets for $250,000 each in anticipation for future flights, but suspended sales in 2014 after a test flight crash.

Axiom Space, a private aerospace company that wants to build the first commercial space station, is planning to send private citizens to the International Space Station in 2022 aboard the Crew Dragon from billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Tickets sold for a whopping $55 million each. Back in 2019, NASA opened up the ISS to private flights. 

The market for space tourism 

The focus on space flight reflects a broader shift in who the tourism market now caters to. 

As the ranks of very wealthy individuals have grown, the middle-class has been priced out of the market, which now focuses more on “exotic luxury,” said Howard McCurdy, a professor of public affairs at American University.

He said, for example, experiences might now consist of taking a trip through the Drake Passage to Antarctica, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. 

“That’s pretty expensive,” McCurdy said. “ It’s not there for everybody, but it is there for a substantial number of people who didn’t exist 40 to 50 years ago in that income category.” 

Mark Sundahl, a professor at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law with expertise in space law, said he sees space tourism as a viable industry.  

“There’s been a lot of interest and a large number of deposits made by prospective spaceflight participants, as they’re known in the industry, and it’s going to be very popular,” Sundahl said. 

But while the rich will be able to afford these tickets, some don’t think space tourism will ever become a mass market opportunity. 

“Projections of price and access to space going way back have always been very optimistic. And it’s still very expensive,” said Henry R. Hertzfeld, a professor of space policy and international affairs at George Washington University. “Space is risky — it’s not as easy as it looks when everything goes right.” 

The economics of private space companies

McCurdy said he does not think companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic can make money solely flying passengers. To succeed, they’ll have to find other revenue streams. 

He pointed to the Air Mail Act of 1925, or the Kelly Act, which allowed private companies to bid for contracts to deliver the mail , which helped financially sustain their operations. 

To finance his Blue Origin operation, Bezos said in 2017 that he was selling $1 billion of Amazon stock a year. The company has also partnered with NASA to carry research and technology payloads into space.  

In 2020, NASA bega accepting proposals from scientists who wanted to fly with their experiments to space on commercial rockets from companies such as Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin. It offered between $450,00 to $650,000 for their proposals, reported The Verge.  

And just last month, NASA awarded $146 million in contracts to five companies, including Blue Origin and SpaceX, to create lander design concepts for its Artemis program (which aims to return astronauts to the moon) and conduct component tests. 

“You get the mail, you get some packages, you get some people, and all of a sudden, it starts to make economic sense,” McCurdy said. “And then of course, you charge the people wildly different rates. To be first, to be with Shatner.” 

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Every Space Tourism Package Available in 2021 Ranked: From $125K to $60 Million

From virgin galactic's suborbital ride to spacex's multi-day orbital voyage, we've rounded up every space tourism package available..

2021 is a historic year for commercial space travel. A record number of civilian orbital and suborbital missions launched successfully: Elon Musk ’s SpaceX launched four amateur astronauts into Earth’s orbit for the first time; a Russian film crew spent 12 days on the International Space Station shooting the world’s first movie in space; and two multi-billionaires flew to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere as the first passengers of their respective space companies to show the public that their new spacecrafts are safe and fun.

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As with everything in its early stages, space tourism today is unattainably expensive (although demand appears to be strong enough to keep existing companies in this market busy for several years). But eventually, as technology matures and more companies enter the industry, prices will hopefully go down. As a space tourism entrepreneur told Observer this summer, going to space in the future “will be more and more like going to Europe.”

Below, we’ve rounded up every space tourism package that is either available now or in the near future. We have listed them in the order of price and compared them by travel duration, maximum altitude, passenger cabin amenities, and value for money—if you can afford it, that is.

Space Perspective: “Hot Air Balloon” to Stratosphere

Price: $125,000 Flight altitude: 30 kilometers What you’ll get: A relaxing six-hour ride to the stratosphere in a balloon-borne pressurized capsule. Date available: 2024 Value for money:  ★★★★ (4/5 stars)

Founded by the team that launched Alan Eustace in 2014 for his Guinness World Record space jump , Florida-based Space Perspective in June began selling tickets of its yet-to-be-licensed “Spaceship Neptune” flights.

A pressurized capsule designed to carry up to eight passengers and one pilot will be slowly lifted by a hydrogen-filled balloon the size of a football field when fully inflated to 19 miles (30 kilometers) in the sky, about three times the altitude of commercial planes. The passenger cabin features a bar, a bathroom and huge windows specially designed for sightseeing.

The balloon will hover at its peak altitude for about two hours before slowly descending to a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, where passengers and will be picked up by a recovery ship.

Because the space balloon moves at only 12 miles per hour during ascent and descent, no special training is required before the ride. Space Perspective completed a test flight in June. The company expects to begin flying paying customers before the end of 2024.

Virgin Galactic: Suborbital Joy Ride

Ticket Price: $450,000 Flight altitude:  50 km What you’ll get: A 90-minute ride to 50 kilometers above sea level in a SpaceShipTwo spaceplane. A few minutes of zero-gravity experience during descent. Date available:  Now Value for money: ★★ (2/5 stars)

If you like a more thrilling space experience provided by a company with a little bit of a track record, Virgin Galactic (SPCE) ’s 90-minute suborbital flight might be your choice.

In July, the company’s founder, Richard Branson , became its first passenger and flew to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere in a VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo spaceplane along with two pilots and three Virgin Galactic employees.

A pioneer in the nascent space tourism industry, Virgin Galactic began selling seats in 2013 at $250,000 apiece. By the time it halted sales in 2014 (after a test flight failure), the company had collected deposits from more than 600 aspiring customers. Ticket sales resumed in August this year at a higher price of $450,000. Virgin Galactic said it has since received 100 reservations.

Each VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo can carry up to four passengers. Virgin Galactic expects to fly paying passengers three times a month in 2023. At its current reservation volume, it will take the company a number of years to clear its wait list. So, patience is your friend here.

Blue Origin: Quick Rocket Trip to the Kármán line

Ticket Price: Reportedly $28 million Flight altitude: 100 km What you’ll get: A 12-minute ride to the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. Date available:  Now Value for money: ★ (1/5 stars)

Blue Origin offers a similar suborbital flight package to Virgin Galactic’s. The main difference is that Virgin flies passengers in a plane while Blue Origin launches amateur astronauts in a real rocket.

On July 20, a few days after Branson’s spaceflight, Jeff Bezos became the first customer of his own space company as well, blasting off to 107 kilometers in the sky in a New Shepard booster-capsule combo. The same spacecraft launched another crew of four passengers, including Star Trek actor William Shatner , on October 13.

Blue Origin began taking reservations in May. The exact ticket price is still a mystery. Bezos has said Blue Origin will price New Shepard flights similarly to its competitors, which led us to speculate that it would likely fall in the range of what Virgin Galactic charges. But, according to Tom Hanks , the ride would cost $28 million, which he said was the reason he turned down Bezos’ invitation to fly on the October mission. Hanks may have been joking, but $28 million was how much an auction winner paid to fly alongside Bezos in July. Of that total, $19 million was donated to various space organizations, Blue Origin said. If the remaining amount went to the company itself, it was still a hefty $9 million.

Blue Origin said it has raked in $100 million from private clients, but refused to disclose how many tickets have been sold.

SpaceX: Multi-Day Orbital Voyage

Ticket Price: Estimated $55 million Flight altitude: 574 km Date available:  Now What you’ll get: Three-day stay inside SpaceX’s Dragon capsule circling around Earth with three crew mates. Value for money: ★★★ (3/5 stars)

SpaceX has more experience launching humans into space than any other company in this roundup. Its civilian package, rightfully the most expensive of the bunch, provides the closest experience to true space exploration.

In September, four amateur astronauts blasted off into space in a modified SpaceX Dragon capsule, equipped with a 360-degree glass dome, and spent three days flying in Earth’s orbit. The crewed spacecraft shot up to an altitude of 357 miles, about 100 miles higher than the average orbital altitude of the International Space Station.

The trip was paid for by tech billionaire Jared Isaacman, who was also one of the passengers. SpaceX didn’t disclose the exact amount he paid. It was estimated in the $200 million ballpark, given that NASA pays about $55 million for each seat on SpaceX’s regular crewed missions to the ISS.

Axiom Space/SpaceX: Vacation on International Space Station 

Ticket Price: $55 million Flight altitude: 408 km Date available: 2022 What you’ll get: A 10-day trip to the International Space Station, including a weeklong stay in the orbital lab. Value for money: ★★★★★ (5/5 stars)

Next year, another four-person, all-civilian mission is expected to launch with a SpaceX Dragon capsule, this time to actually dock at the International Space Station and let the crew live in the orbital lab for a week. (The Inspiration4 mission stayed in orbit only.)

The trip is marketed by Houston-based Axiom Space , a company led by former NASA official Michael Suffredini. Dubbed Ax-1, the mission will be piloted by former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría. Three passengers—Larry Connor, Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe—have reportedly paid $55 million each for the remaining seats.

Axiom has three more flights planned in 2022 and 2023. Under NASA’s low Earth orbit commercialization policy, two ISS civilian missions no longer than 30 days are allowed per year. Axiom actually aims to eventually build a stand-alone space station to replace the aging ISS. The first major module is expected to launch in 2024.

Roscosmos: Customized Trip to International Space Station

Ticket Price: $50 million to $60 million Flight altitude: 408 km Date available: Now What you’ll get: A 12-day trip to the International Space Station. Value for money: ★★★★★ (5/5 stars)

If you don’t feel like buying your first space trip from an inexperienced private company, Russia’s national space agency Roscosmos has a ISS getaway package very similar to what Axiom and SpaceX have to offer.

In October, Roscosmos sent an actress and a director to the ISS for a 12-day trip to shoot scenes for what will be the first movie filmed in space. On December 8, another civilian, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, known for having booked a SpaceX Starship flight around the moon in 2023, will travel to the ISS in a Russian Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft, set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Maezawa will fly with his assistant, Yozo Hirano, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. According to Space Adventures , a Virginia-based company currently working with Roscosmos on future commercial flights, a seat on an ISS-bound Soyuz spacecraft will cost in the range of $50 million to $60 million.

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How much does it cost to visit the International Space Station?

If you have to ask axiom space's ticket price, you can't afford it.

A group of four private astronauts arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on May 22, completing a journey from Cape Canaveral to the habitat orbiting 408 kilometers (254 miles) above the Earth.

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The mission, managed by Axiom Space , is the second time that paying passengers have flown independently to the ISS. Its crew includes Axiom employee Peggy Whitson, a retired NASA astronaut acting as the mission commander, as well as John Shoffner, the former CEO of fiber optics maker Dura-Line, and two government astronauts from Saudi Arabia, Ali Al Qarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. The latter is the first Arab woman in space.

Getting to space has always been famously expensive, and that’s still the truth today; what’s changed in recent years is that it’s a commodity available for purchase. Past orbital space tourists relied on brokers to make one-off deals with Russia’s cash-strapped space program. With the debut of SpaceX’s crew Dragon spacecraft in 2020, NASA announced that it would welcome private passengers at the ISS if they paid for their room and board.

Now, anyone with sufficient cash can hunt for one of the limited slots to head to orbit. Axiom hopes to fly about a twice a year, but NASA officials say they had trouble finding a window for this mission amid other upcoming activity at the station, including a cargo re-supply, a test flight of a new Boeing spacecraft, and the arrival of the next set of NASA astronauts.

How much will such a trip set you back? At least $60 million—with an emphasis on “at least.” This table shows the publicly available data on how much a private mission might cost per astronaut.

The real cost of flying to the ISS is much higher

But there’s much more to think about. For one, the cost per seat to ride on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is an estimate for NASA (pdf) from 2019, and it has   likely risen.

Presumably, Axiom’s customers also cover the cost of Whitson’s flight, since NASA requires a professional astronaut chaperone onboard. That adds about $20 million to each paying passenger’s ride. Then there’s the question of how much Axiom is charging. Despite the high cost of the trip, the limited supply of seats suggests Axiom could charge deep-pocketed individuals and governments a decent fee for getting them to orbit. By the time everything adds up, the cost of a trip could reach toward $100 million a person.

NASA hopes to replace the aging ISS with privately operated space stations that can serve its needs in low-Earth orbit, while also attracting customers like space tourists, foreign governments, and private companies. Letting private companies visit the publicly funded lab aims to prove that there’s enough demand for these services to attract sizable private investment.

Judging by Axiom’s flight plans and its goal of launching a new module to the ISS in 2025—alongside the other companies plotting to launch their own orbital habitats—NASA’s strategy is working so far.

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William Shatner went to space. Here's how much it would cost you.

It's the dawn of a new space age.

William Shatner , who for decades explored space on screen as "Star Trek's" Captain Kirk, finally launched into the final frontier.

"Everybody in the world needs to do this," he said. "Everybody in the world needs to see it." 

On Wednesday, the 90-year-old became the oldest person in space, a title briefly held by  Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk  and previously held by legendary astronaut John Glenn . At age 82, Funk, a longtime champion of women in space, joined Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Blue Origin's flight to the edge of space in July.

What does this mean for the future of civilian space travel? Will space become the next ultimate human amusement park?

NASA Director Phil McAlister weighs in after more than 20 years working in the space industry.

►'I hope I never recover': William Shatner gets emotional after historic Blue Origin flight

►Sorry, Jeff Bezos: You're still not an astronaut, according to the FAA

How much does it cost to go into space?

It depends, says McAlister. For a trip on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo and Blue Origin's New Shepard, seats typically cost $250,000 to $500,000.

"Those are suborbital transportation systems. They are about a 15-minute ride, and they just barely touch the edge of space and then come back down. They don't go into orbit," McAlister says.

SpaceX's  Inspiration4  mission in September was different.

The spacecraft of civilians was in orbit and circling the Earth for three days, similar to orbital spaceflight required for astronauts to get to the International Space Station. 

► Rocket visuals:  Visual explainer: SpaceX flight puts all-civilian crew of 4 into Earth orbit for 3 days

►The Inspiration4 mission:   No professional astronauts: SpaceX will launch first all-civilian crew into orbit tonight

Jared Isaacman, a 38-year-old billionaire high-school dropout who promoted the flight as a massive fundraising effort for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, paid for it all.

Issacman, a pilot who is qualified to fly commercial and military jets, reached a deal with SpaceX in late 2020 for the mission.

Neither is saying how much he paid SpaceX, an Elon Musk-founded company, for the launch, though Isaacman has said it was far less than the $200 million he hoped to raise for St. Jude.

For NASA astronauts, McAlister says, orbital trips can have a $58 million price tag, based on averages calculated from commercial contracts with SpaceX and Boeing. 

While $58 million may seem like a lot, it's actually a great bargain for NASA.

After retiring its space shuttle, NASA had to pay Russia around $80 million for each seat on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The privatization of space by American companies

This initiative to partner public and private resources for American space exploration has been years in the making.

NASA has been working with SpaceX and Boeing on their systems for the last 10 years, transferring their knowledge from more than 60 years of human spaceflight and innovation in low Earth orbit.

"During that 60 years, only about 600 people have flown the space, and the vast majority of them have been government astronauts. I think in the next 60 years, that number is going to go up dramatically, and the vast majority of them are going to be private citizens," McAlister says. 

►Inspiration4 mission makes history:  Cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux to become youngest American in space with SpaceX launch

The goal for NASA is to eventually retire the International Space Station and allow companies to build their own space stations with the latest technological designs that require less maintenance.

In the future, astronauts could just rent seats on space shuttles and stay at rooms in space stations, similar to how business travelers buy plane tickets from airlines and sleep in hotels.

"If you remember back when airline travel first debuted, it was very expensive, and it was only for the very wealthy that can afford it. And then entrepreneurs entered the market. Forces of competition brought prices down to the point where today, most people, not everybody, but most people can afford a flight from New York to California," says McAlister. "I'm hoping that the same thing happens with human space transportation."

What would a trip to space look like?

Getting onto a spaceship definitely wouldn't be as simple as a check-in process at the airport. The participants on Inspiration4 had to train for months, understand spacecraft systems and prepare for the physical toll of space.

Here's who joined billionaire Jared Isaacman on the mission:

►Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude. She was treated for bone cancer herself at the hospital as a child.

►Chris Sembroski, an aerospace worker from Seattle who was selected from among 72,000 entries based donations to St. Jude.

►Sian Proctor, an educator and trained pilot who was a finalist in NASA's 2009 astronaut class.

SpaceX and Isaacman unveiled their project to the world in a TV ad that ran during the Super Bowl in February encouraging people to apply for the mission.

The crew ran a series of experiments  related to health research, such as drawing blood and measuring sleep activity.

Research institutes and medical schools will use the data to understand how the human body is affected by space, and how to make space a potential travel, or living, destination.

In a SpaceX press briefing , SpaceX Director Benji Reed said, "We want to make life multiplanetary, and that means putting millions of people in space."

McAlister also imagined that a big chunk of the crew's time was spent just looking out the window, staring in awe at the curvature of the Earth and the thin blue line of atmosphere encircling it.

"You can see the Earth, the whole Earth from space, and there's no boundaries. There's no borders, and you feel a connectedness to the human race that you didn't necessarily feel before," says McAlister. "You come back with a better appreciation for our home planet."

Florida Day contributed. Michelle Shen is a Money & Tech Digital Reporter for USATODAY. You can reach her @michelle_shen10 on Twitter. 

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3 visitors heading to the space station are paying $55M each, all meals included

The Associated Press

The SpaceX crew is seated in the Dragon spacecraft on Friday, in Cape Canaveral, Fla., before their launch to the International Space Station. SpaceX via AP hide caption

The SpaceX crew is seated in the Dragon spacecraft on Friday, in Cape Canaveral, Fla., before their launch to the International Space Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched three rich businessmen and their astronaut escort to the International Space Station on Friday for more than a week's stay, as NASA joins Russia in hosting guests at the world's most expensive tourist destination.

It's SpaceX's first private charter flight to the orbiting lab after two years of carrying astronauts there for NASA.

4 astronauts will help scientists learn how space travel affects the human body

Arriving at the space station Saturday will be an American, Canadian and Israeli who run investment, real estate and other companies. They're paying $55 million apiece for the rocket ride and accommodations, all meals included.

Russia has been hosting tourists at the space station — and before that the Mir station — for decades. Just last fall, a Russian movie crew flew up, followed by a Japanese fashion tycoon and his assistant.

NASA is finally getting into the act, after years of opposing space station visitors.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Crew Dragon capsule attached, lifts off Friday at the Kennedy Space Center. Chris O'Meara/AP hide caption

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Crew Dragon capsule attached, lifts off Friday at the Kennedy Space Center.

"It was a hell of a ride and we're looking forward to the next 10 days," said former NASA astronaut and chaperone Michael Lopez-Alegria on reaching orbit.

The visitors' tickets include access to all but the Russian portion of the space station — they'll need permission from the three cosmonauts on board. Three Americans and a German also live up there.

No, Russian cosmonauts were not making a pro-Ukraine statement with their spacesuits

Lopez-Alegria plans to avoid talking about politics and the war in Ukraine while he's at the space station.

"I honestly think that it won't be awkward. I mean maybe a tiny bit," he said. He expects the "spirit of collaboration will shine through."

The private Axiom Space company arranged the visit with NASA for its three paying customers: Larry Connor of Dayton, Ohio, who runs the Connor Group; Mark Pathy, founder and CEO of Montreal's Mavrik Corp.; and Israel's Eytan Stibbe, a former fighter pilot and founding partner of Vital Capital.

Before the launch, their enthusiasm was obvious: Stibbe did a little dance when he arrived at the rocket at Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX and NASA have been upfront with them about the risks of spaceflight, said Lopez-Alegria, who spent seven months at the space station 15 years ago.

"There's no fuzz, I think, on what the dangers are or what the bad days could look like," Lopez-Alegria told The Associated Press before the flight.

NASA's Artemis 1 moon rocket reaches the launch pad

Each visitor has a full slate of experiments to conduct during their nine to 10 days there, one reason they don't like to be called space tourists.

"They're not up there to paste their nose on the window," said Axiom's co-founder and president, Michael Suffredini, a former NASA space station program manager.

The three businessmen are the latest to take advantage of the opening of space to those with deep pockets. Jeff Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin is taking customers on 10-minute rides to the edge of space, while Virgin Galactic expects to start flying customers on its rocket ship later this year.

Friday's flight is the second private charter for Elon Musk's SpaceX, which took a billionaire and his guests on a three-day orbit ride last year.

Axiom is targeting next year for its second private flight to the space station. More customer trips will follow, with Axiom adding its own rooms to the orbiting complex beginning in 2024. After about five years, the company plans to detach its compartments to form a self-sustaining station — one of several commercial outposts intended to replace the space station once it's retired and NASA shifts to the moon.

At an adjacent pad during Friday's launch: NASA's new moon rocket, which is awaiting completion of a dress rehearsal for a summertime test flight.

As a gift for their seven station hosts, the four visitors are taking up paella and other Spanish cuisine prepared by celebrity chef José Andrés. The rest of their time at the station, NASA's freeze-dried chow will have to do.

The automated SpaceX capsule and its four passengers are due back April 19 with a splashdown off the Florida coast.

NASA is just now opening a vacuum-sealed sample it took from the moon 50 years ago

Connor is honoring Ohio's air and space legacy, taking up a fabric swatch from the Wright brothers' 1903 Kitty Hawk flyer and gold foil from the Apollo 11 command module from the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta.

Only the second Israeli to launch to space, Stibbe will continue a thunderstorm experiment begun by the first — Ilan Ramon, who died aboard shuttle Columbia in 2003. They were in the same fighter pilot squadron.

Stibbe is carrying copies of recovered pages of Ramon's space diary, as well as a song composed by Ramon's musician son and a painting of pages falling from the sky by his daughter.

"To be a part of this unique crew is a proof for me that there's no dream beyond reach," he said.

Covering the business and politics of space

SpaceX and the categorical imperative to achieve low launch cost

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SpaceX is the fastest growing space company worldwide. It has achieved major successes since its creation in 2002, and its level of technical execution has established the company as a benchmark for the newspace community and as a model to follow for countless start-ups in the sector. 

Incumbent players in the launch sector have been looking at SpaceX, first with skepticism, then incredulity, and now with awe, witnessing the company unfolding its business model, initially sparked by Elon Musk’s criticism that access to space was too expensive. 

Today it is generally recognized by all observers that SpaceX, with its partially reusable Falcon launch system, has achieved major cost reduction for orbital launch.

The same observer also notes that the customers of SpaceX, as a whole, are not yet benefiting from any significant reduction of the cost of access to space, because SpaceX is not incentivized to pass the economies they achieve to their customers, or only very marginally, if they do. 

We believe that the economies achieved by SpaceX on launch are irrevocably tied to the success of SpaceX, to the point that they provide the foundation of Starlink’s seemingly unstoppable development. 

The business of SpaceX  

SpaceX is a company that has four main lines of business: 

Space launch . SpaceX serves three market segments. Starlink launches (80% of the total), United States government launches (NASA and DoD) and commercial and export launches (SES, OneWeb, ESA). This launch business is usually presented as being extremely profitable because SpaceX, thanks to its reusability technology, is driving down its costs and is able to generate gross margins on every launch performed for external customers (while Starlink launches benefit from at-cost pricing with no profit made). It is generally assumed that SpaceX launch business yields about $3.5 billion in revenues in 2024 (inclusive of Dragon cargo and crew missions), with about 20 to 25 launches per year. 

Broadband service . Through its 6,000 satellite Starlink constellation, SpaceX is able to deliver global broadband access to fixed and mobile terminals around the globe. It is currently the largest provider of such service in the U.S., with a subscriber base of 3 million or more. This business is assumed to yield about $4.5 billion in 2024 (80% of this is service revenue, the rest is composed of terminal sales), though estimates vary . It was recently announced that in Q1 of 2023, Starlink achieved ”breakeven cash flow” , and that SpaceX turned a profit in 2023. Analysts usually recognize that to achieve breakeven cash flow, and turn a profit on Starlink, SpaceX must achieve a very low Capex on Starlink, so low in fact, that the only viable assumption is that each Starlink launch costs less than $50 million (satellites and launch included), which in turn leads to the assumption that Falcon 9 costs charged to Starlink must be lower than $28 million per launch, if we take at face value Elon Musk’s statements that the cost of Starlink satellites is in the order of $1,000 per kg, or about $17 to 18 million worth of Starlink satellites on each Falcon 9 launch. In fact, any assumption above the $50 million per launch would be incompatible with the statements about profit and cash flow in 2023. 

Satellite supplier . SpaceX is a supplier of satellites for U.S. government constellations, be it the the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture transport layer, or the recently disclosed Starshield constellation . The actual revenue associated with these projects is unknown, but considering the high value of the Starshield contract, it is reasonable to assume that these projects may yield $500 million and upwards in 2023 and 2024. 

HLS program . SpaceX is also involved in the NASA Artemis program as a supplier of the HLS (Human Landing System) to land US astronauts on the moon. This was a $2.9 billion contract, further topped by a second $1.15 billion contract . Payments for these contracts are linked to milestones, most of them seemingly tied to Starship achievements. It is likely that SpaceX already recognized large revenues from these contracts , maybe $700 million to $800 million a year. 

Modeling SpaceX financials  

At Eurospace, we have designed our own SpaceX financial model as a tool to understand the intertwined dynamics of SpaceX revenues and expenditures, with a variety of underlying assumptions regarding costs and capex. 

One of these assumptions considers the actual costs of Falcon 9 launches, whose unique features of reusability, growing booster reuse rate (over 20 flights per booster), fairings recovery and reuse and acceleration of launch cadence (supported by rapidly decreasing refurbish times) mechanically drive average launch costs down. 

In 2021, Eurospace had modeled Falcon 9 financial assumptions and came to the conclusion that the reusability model generates large, and growing profits, at scale, after the seventh launch of the year (paid for by external customers). 

In 2024, the reusability model is vastly improved, and many analysts believe that the possibility that the full cost of each Falcon 9 launch —– including workforce for transport, refurbishment, assembly and operations, depreciation and amortization on facilities (launch sites, factories, test benches) and reusable items (fairings and boosters) — is currently positioned below $30 million . While some analysts make implicit assumptions that the full cost of Falcon 9 could be as low as $20 million per launch , Eurospace prefers to stay with the more conservative assumption of $28 million per launch. 

The inescapable thesis of Falcon’s low launch cost

It is interesting to note that Falcon launch cost assumptions are the main driver of any analysis of SpaceX finances, and are the cornerstone to achieving profitability with the Starlink service. 

Indeed, when modeling the financials of Starlink with various (favorable to less favorable) assumptions on Capex and Opex, it appears that the single largest cost driver for Starlink is the space infrastructure Capex and related Depreciation and Amortization (D&A). 

In the Eurospace model, the assumption set leading to Starlink profitability in 2023 is intimately tied to the assumption of a Starlink Capex under $50 million per launch (satellites included), implying a full cost of a Falcon 9 launch below $30 million. For instance, if the Starlink Capex per launch were only as high as $60 million per launch, total Capex by end 2024 would be $24 billion. Such Capex would imply unsustainable D&A and vastly negative EBIT for the Starlink system alone. If this was the case, SpaceX would probably have had to secure more equity or debt financing to bridge the financial gap. This reverse reasoning is the strongest hint that indeed, for its Starlink system, SpaceX has achieved a capital efficiency never achieved by commercial constellations before, and 70% of that capital efficiency hinges on the low cost of Falcon 9 launches that SpaceX is charging to Starlink. 

The corollary to this assumption is that whenever Falcon is launched for external customers, including U.S. government and commercial or export customers, it is priced much higher than its actual cost, yielding a significant net profit as high as $30 million or more for a low-priced commercial launch, and up to $50 million to $60 million (and more?) when it is a governmental agency. In 2023, SpaceX undertook 33 launches for external customers, probably yielding a gross profit in excess of $1 billion. 

Interestingly, this thesis also goes towards the narrative of SpaceX profitability, since profit on launch will subsidize the Starlink system, covering the cost of maybe 40 to 50 Starlink launches (satellites not included). 

Eventually the thesis of less than $30 million per launch is a requirement for the narrative of Starlink breakeven or profitability statuses to be sustained. Moreover, it is the only thesis where this narrative can be sustained: if Falcon 9 is more expensive than that, there is no realistic set of assumptions where the SpaceX financial model does not go bankrupt. Or, to put it differently, if the Falcon 9 full cost significantly exceeds $20 million to $30 million, then either SpaceX is drowning in debt, or SpaceX has or had much higher revenues than what is currently estimated. 

Low-cost access to space, a catalyst for newspace, and a competitive advantage that SpaceX is not keen to forfeit  

As many commentators regularly note, SpaceX has managed to significantly lower the cost of access to space, but it is not passing these savings to its customers. Considering the dire situation of the competition (Arianespace and ULA mainly) SpaceX has actually no incentive to offer lower prices. 

In a recent article , some SpaceX competitors voiced their concern that SpaceX may be selling below costs to undercut them, and suggest that this is unfair. The fact that these competitors, notably Rocket Lab, exhibit much higher list prices per kg to orbit than SpaceX (upwards of $20,000per kilogram for Rocket lab, under $6,000 per kilogram for SpaceX), and still fail to turn a profit (as shown in the latest Rocket Lab financial statements), gives to their statements a strange resonance. Would it be possible, as they suggest, that SpaceX is selling launches at loss just to keep the competition at bay? If this was true, and due to the extremely high cadence of Starlink launches, it would mean that SpaceX is drowning in debt, incapable of sustaining the Capex drain of launching Falcons at more than $45 million to $60 million a pop. 

Of course, since SpaceX is private, nobody can prove or disprove that SpaceX is making a hefty profit on its Falcon launch business. But, as we discussed above, the assumption that Falcon 9’s full cost per launch is significantly higher than $30 million does not stand in front of the incredible launch cadence driven by the Starlink deployment. If we assume that each Falcon 9 actually costs SpaceX “as little” as $50 million, this would imply that SpaceX will have spent $10 billion and upwards on Starlink launch alone (plus a probable $6 billion to $8 billion for the satellites) by the end of 2024. We believe that this figure is not compatible with other financial facts about SpaceX, and would not support the affirmation that Starlink was breaking even on cash nor was profitable at some point of 2023. 

The most probable and logical assumption then is that by achieving reusability, fast turnaround and especially the very high cadence (thanks to the huge “demand” created by Starlink), SpaceX has unlocked a new economic model for space launch. This also means that SpaceX clearly has margins to undercut the competition while still making a profit on each launch (including the Transporter and Bandwagon mission and their relatively low fill ratio). 

SpaceX’s competitive advantage on launch: fair game or excessive markup?  

Another interesting consequence of this assumption is that as long as SpaceX is the only launch operator able to benefit from low launch Capex for its constellation business, it will always have better financial prospects than its competition. 

For instance, let us consider Kuiper launch plans described as “the largest commercial launch deal ever” in which “Amazon is purchasing up to 83 launches from Arianespace, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance.” At current market prices, it is assumed that the launch Capex from these 83 launches could be as high as $6 billion to $10 billion, deploying only half as many satellites as Starlink already did by mid-2024. If Kuiper had access to the same launch deal as Starlink, its launch Capex could be less than half of what it is estimated here. Moreover, without the Starlink low launch Capex, Kuiper service will suffer from a competitive disadvantage, and may never reach breakeven of profitability, which it could if SpaceX launch prices were not as high. 

Now that Kuiper recently negotiated a few launches with SpaceX, and may procure more in the future, the question of fair pricing may be worth raising. 

The very low costs of Falcon launches could also raise some questions from U.S. government customers. NASA and DoD regularly foot very expensive launch bills to launch with Falcon. Considering how much SpaceX’s successful development path has been tied to NASA and other U.S. government business, it may be reasonable for these customers to start wondering whether they have the right bang for the buck, and consider auditing SpaceX and determine whether the price offers made by SpaceX are fair or whether they include an excessive markup. 

We are really curious to see how this eventually unfolds, because it is very hard for the proponents and supporters of the newspace, Elon Musk included, to tout the dramatic reduction of launch costs as the key to unlock the “new space economy”, without ever seeing these cost reductions passed to the customers, and eventually unlock the benefits that “low-cost access to space” are supposed to bring to humanity. 

Pierre Lionnet is the Research and Managing Director at Eurospace, the trade organization of the European space industry). He labels himself a space economist, being an economist by training and being professionally involved in the analysis of space markets, space industry supply chains and space technology and innovation trends for the past 30 years. This op-ed reflects his own views, and does not constitute a formal position of Eurospace.

Pierre Lionnet

Pierre Lionnet is the Research and Managing Director at Eurospace, the trade organization of the European space industry). He labels himself a space economist, being an economist by training and being professionally involved in the analysis of space markets,... More by Pierre Lionnet

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SpaceX Starship launches on nail-biting 4th test flight of world's most powerful rocket (video, photos)

It was quite a sight...and quite a fiery success for SpaceX.

The fourth test flight of the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built is in the books, and what a dramatic and nail-biting trip for SpaceX it was.

SpaceX launched its Starship megarocket for the fourth time ever today (June 6) at 8:50 a.m. EDT (1250 GMT), sending the 400-foot-tall (122 meters) vehicle aloft from its Starbase site near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas atop a thundering pillar of fire. 

There were two main goals today: bring Starship's first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, down for a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, and achieve a controlled reentry of the 165-foot-tall (50 m) upper stage, called Starship or simply Ship. Both the Super Heavy booster and its Ship appeared to make their water landings, sending spectators at SpaceX's mission control at Starbase into a frenzy of cheers. 

Starship Die Cast Rocket Model Now $69.99 on Amazon . 

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Note: Stock is low so you'll have to act quickly to get this. 

"This whole building was going absolutely insane," SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot said during live commentary from the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, California. "When we saw the booster hit the water, I mean, wow."

Elon Musk , SpaceX's founder and CEO, was thrilled. 

"Successful soft landing of the Starship Super Heavy rocket booster!" he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) after splashdown.

The Starship Ship vehicle, meanwhile, appeared to nail its landing burn despite one of its flaps clearly suffering burn-through damage during descent. Live camera views showed the flap's heat shield burn away, covering the the camera with debris, then ultimately cracking the lens. 

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Still, the camera came back despite several signal drops, proving each time that Starship was alive. At landing, the Ship appeared to flip as planned and execute its landing burn, SpaceX said. 

"Despite loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean!" Elon Musk wrote on X later . "Congratulations SpaceX team on an epic achievement!!

The crowd, as you'd expect, went wild. 

"It was so loud here," Kate Tice, SpaceX quality systems engineering senior manager, said during live commentary. "I haven't heard the crowd get that loud, probably, since Flight One." Tice, Huot and SpaceX's Jessie Anderson celebrated the Starship landing by toasting a marshmallow with a Starship-shaped lighter.

Related: Relive SpaceX Starship's 3rd flight test in breathtaking photos

Starship views the fully reusable Starship as a revolutionary advance in spaceflight, one that could make human settlement of the moon and Mars economically feasible at long last.

Indeed, the vehicle was designed with Mars in mind: Its next-gen Raptor engines (33 for Super Heavy and six for Ship) burn liquid oxygen and liquid methane, both of which can be sourced on the Red Planet.

The moon will likely be Starship's first far-flung stop, however. NASA selected the craft as the first crewed lander for its Artemis program of moon exploration, which aims to establish a research base in the ice-rich south polar region by the end of the 2020s. The current architecture calls for Starship to land NASA astronauts on the moon for the first time in September 2026, on the Artemis 3 mission.

Starship will need to ace many more test flights before it's ready for that landmark mission, but the stainless-steel spacecraft is off to a good start: It has made significant progress on each of its four liftoffs to date. 

Starship's two stages failed to separate on its debut flight , which occurred in April 2023. That mission ended with a controlled detonation of the tumbling vehicle just four minutes after liftoff. (And that liftoff blasted a crater beneath Starbase's orbital launch mount, impelling SpaceX to install a water-spewing metal plate as heat-wicking reinforcement.)

Flight 2 , in November 2023, achieved stage separation but still ended early; both Ship and Super Heavy had been reduced to swirling bits in Earth's atmosphere by eight minutes after launch.

Starship made a big leap on Flight 3 , which launched on March 14 of this year. Stage separation occurred on time, and Super Heavy made it to within 1,650 feet (500 meters) of the Gulf of Mexico's wavetops before breaking apart. Ship, meanwhile, achieved orbital velocity and flew for nearly 50 minutes, finally succumbing to intense frictional heating as it reentered our atmosphere after an uncontrollable roll due to loss of its reaction control system, SpaceX said. 

Flight 4 saw yet more improvement, as the Super Heavy made it safely down to the water while the Ship appeared to maintain roll control during flight. 

During launch, the Super Heavy booster appeared to fire 32 of its 33 Raptor engines during liftoff, with one engine clearly out in video and telemetry. When the Super Heavy fired its 13-engine landing burn, only 12 engines fired, but the booster still appeared to make its "soft landing" splashdown, SpaceX said. 

— SpaceX launches giant Starship rocket into space on epic 3rd test flight (video)

— Starship and Super Heavy: SpaceX's Mars transportation system

— FAA to oversee investigation of SpaceX Starship's 3rd test flight

If you missed today's liftoff, don't worry: There will probably be many more Starship launches in the near future. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said the company aims to launch six test flights of the megarocket in 2024, which would work  out to four more liftoffs in the next six months.

The timeline is not entirely up to SpaceX, of course; regulators such as the Federal Aviation Administration have a say. But, true to its fast-moving ways, SpaceX has already been gearing up for the coming Starship launches. It test-fired the Flight 5 vehicle early last month , for example.

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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with  Space.com  and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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• Unclear Engineer First, I want to say that this flight was an impressive improvement. And, it is good to see that even with an engine shutdown during liftoff/ascent and another during the landing flip, both vehicles performed nominally. That ability to accommodate some failures and still succeed is the hallmark of reliability. Next, I want to ask a question about the on-line coverage. I had it here on my computer through Space.com's link, and also on a TV in the kitchen through a Firestick, on what I thought was the same feed. But, on the Firestick link, at T-2:00 and counting, the feed suddenly switched to a video of Elon Musk (or a deep fake?) urging people to click on a QR code displayed on the screen to go to a site where they could send crypto coins and have Musk send back 2 coins of the same type. Sounded to me like a scam to get access to crypto wallets, and it was repeated multiple times, instead of showing the launch and flight feeds. By the time I had dried my hands and checked that the Space.com feed in the other room was still showing the flight feed, I had missed the launch and separation. So, at this point, I am left wondering whether what I saw on the Firestick/YouTube channel was actually done by Musk, or was it actually a scam taking advantage of the launch audience. Either is outrageous. Both are scary. Reply

Admin said: SpaceX launched its giant Starship rocket for the fourth time ever this morning (June 6) in a dramatic and nail-biting liftoff. SpaceX Starship launches nail-biting Flight 4 test of the world's most powerful rocket (video, photos) : Read more

Unclear Engineer said: First, I want to say that this flight was an impressive improvement. And, it is good to see that even with an engine shutdown during liftoff/ascent and another during the landing flip, both vehicles performed nominally. That ability to accommodate some failures and still succeed is the hallmark of reliability. Next, I want to ask a question about the on-line coverage. I had it here on my computer through Space.com's link, and also on a TV in the kitchen through a Firestick, on what I thought was the same feed. But, on the Firestick link, at T-2:00 and counting, the feed suddenly switched to a video of Elon Musk (or a deep fake?) urging people to click on a QR code displayed on the screen to go to a site where they could send crypto coins and have Musk send back 2 coins of the same type. Sounded to me like a scam to get access to crypto wallets, and it was repeated multiple times, instead of showing the launch and flight feeds. By the time I had dried my hands and checked that the Space.com feed in the other room was still showing the flight feed, I had missed the launch and separation. So, at this point, I am left wondering whether what I saw on the Firestick/YouTube channel was actually done by Musk, or was it actually a scam taking advantage of the launch audience. Either is outrageous. Both are scary.

• Unclear Engineer I did Google "Musk crypto giveaway" and got all sorts of results about the deep fake scam. It was not just on one You-Tube channel, because I tried at least 3 and they all had that scam. I really was not paying much attention to it, because I was looking for the real launch feed. But it seemed realistic enough in picture and sound that I think this deep fake technology could destroy our civilization. Just think what evidence could be faked and how that will undermine our legal system. Security camera footage, body camera footage, telephone call recordings, cell phone videos, everything is now questionable. We will probably get a large dose of exposure to all the possibilities between now and the U.S. election in November. And, I think that will just be the beginning, not the end. There will probably be deep fakes of extraterrestrials colluding with world leaders and accusations that everything that SpaceX actually accomplishes is only a deep fake. Even a "trusted source" can be faked, so what good is a reputation, now? We could be presented with 2 apparent images of the same person, each telling us that the other one is the fake. Reply
• fj.torres Of note: Starship has reached the usability level of Falcon 9: recoverable, refurbishable booster + one-way upper stage. That is all that is needed for space stations, space telescopes, Fuel depots, and most notably HLS. Needs work: heat shields and Raptor 2 reliability. Now to see if Raptor 3 solves the latter. Kudos to the SpaceX staffers, the real heroes of the story. Reply
• Unclear Engineer I would not say that Starship has reached the same level of development as Falcon. There is still a lot of work to do on recovery and demonstration of reusability. But, they are making good progress. I do hope to see 4 more launches this year. But, I am also waiting to see if the FAA declares another "mishap", and, if they do, on what basis. Reply
• DrRaviSharma Congratulations SpaceX as I commented on mission yesterday. Only question on mind is whether orbit achievement criteria are satisfied? Historic Epic achievement. Kudos to SpaceX vision - leader and team. Ravi (Dr. Ravi Sharma, Ph.D. USA) NASA Apollo Achievement Award ISRO Distinguished Service Awards Former MTS NASA HQ MSEB Apollo Former Scientific Secretary ISRO HQ Ontolog Board of Trustees Particle and Space Physics Senior Enterprise Architect SAE Fuel Cell Tech Committee voting member for 20 years. http://www.linkedin.com/in/drravisharma Reply

fj.torres said: Which youtube source did you use on the firestick? 'Cause I had Whataboutit via youtube on my TV and there was no scam, just a non-stop spacex feed plus a commentary window. So no, not a Spacex scam.You just need to pick better feeds. (kidding,okay? Youtube is a free fire zone with lots of chinese scams. Worse than the internet at large, actually, since they censor some serious/honest channels that "offend" china and certain "sensitives" with facts.). The launch itself was great as well as the extensive video documentation proving they did do what they intended to do. (did you see how they did the virtual landing? Simple but briliant.) My main thought was we could've had this a year or even two years ago if not for the FAA and the politically connected types determined to see boeing launch something, anything,before Starship. Political contributions at work, I suppose.

Unclear Engineer said: I would not say that Starship has reached the same level of development as Falcon. There is still a lot of work to do on recovery and demonstration of reusability. But, they are making good progress. I do hope to see 4 more launches this year. But, I am also waiting to see if the FAA declares another "mishap", and, if they do, on what basis.

• Unclear Engineer Is the he FAA still is issuing individual launch approvals for each Starship launch? Reply
• View All 17 Comments

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