Have you ever wanted to go to the moon?  Well, recently, many private companies like Axiom have been asking that question to the rich and powerful.  This company is currently developing commercial space flights for those wealthy enough to buy a ticket.  

But what is space tourism, you may ask?  Space tourism is a new industry for individuals willing to pay for a flight into space.  Axiom would be the first company to send a private spacecraft with tourists to the ISS, marking the beginning of commercial space travel.  

“The concept of Space Tourism seems so cool, but I wish it were more affordable.  I also wonder what the places housing the tourists would look like and if they would be similar to hotels on Earth,” said sophomore Lauren Young.

Axiom is a space tourism company founded in 2016 by Micheal T. Suffredini and Kam Ghaffarian.  Suffredini was a former NASA manager, but decided to get into the commercial space flight industry, and he created Axiom.  NASA chose this company to send the first private space flight to the ISS, and Axiom would work with SpaceX.  SpaceX would provide the ship Crew Dragon for the astronauts to be delivered on to the ISS.  Axiom plans to have three other missions to space after Ax-1 during 2023 to jumpstart the industry.

“Axiom sounds like a very promising company that will lead the space tourism industry to great success.  I only wonder how they were able to get NASA’s approval to use the ISS.  I would think they would have to start from scratch,” said sophomore Harrison Tsouratakis.

Axiom has a master plan to continue commercial space travel for many years. The company intends to use the ISS as a base to build its own space station in the future.  In 2024, Axiom will attach its spacecraft module to the ISS, and two modules will adhere to the original modules.  From there, Axiom will use the station as a space hotel attached to the ISS. Axiom hired French architect Philippe Starck to design the interior of the station.  Starck’s vision is a luxurious hotel with glass walls, video screens, picture windows, and high-speed internet. The station will also serve as a training location for commercial and private astronauts on other missions. 

“This space station sounds like a dream come true for space tourists.  Maybe if space tourism goes on for long enough, it will go down to an affordable price so everyone would be able to experience space and not just the 1% because everyone deserves to have an experience like this,” said sophomore Ava Lucarelli.

On Mar. 4. private astronauts will fly SpaceX’s Crew Dragon craft and travel to the ISS for an eight-day mission, the first private space tourism mission.  Michael López-Alegría, a professional astronaut who will lead this mission, plans to take Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Ethan Stibbe to the ISS.  These three businessmen have paid $55 million to go on this mission of a lifetime.  The launch is planned to happen from Kennedy Space Center.  After those eight days, the astronauts will return to Earth and splash down in the Atlantic, where they will be picked up.  The space tourism industry is just beginning, and each year there is more and more progress in the field.