If you want to go to space and you have $450,000, you can get a ticket starting tomorrow. Virgin Galactic is selling reservations for a spot on its suborbital spaceplane, which comes with an exclusive “membership” that will include access to “money-can’t-buy experiences” — except that money can buy them: $450,000, specifically.
For now it sounds like there will be a cap of 1,000 customers for the presale, or at least that’s how many Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier plans to have lined up once the space tourism company kicks off commercial service later in 2022. Virgin Galactic is also promising that guests who plunk down nearly half-a-million for their spot will get accommodations for guests on-site at Spaceport America in New Mexico, with “bespoke itineraries” and “world-class amenities.” Probably light on the freeze-dried astronaut food.
If you’re interested in all of that (plus the 90-minute flight itself, which includes the ferry ride up strapped to the carrier plane and the “several minute”-long part where you’re actually weightless and able to view Earth from the edge of space), but you only happen to have $150,000 right now, then I’ve got good news: That’s all you need for the deposit, with the balance due just before the flight.
Wow, space really is for everyone.