Space travel has once again become the centre of attention after China announced its cheapest commercial tickets now cost less than a quarter of the price of those listed by Virgin Galactic.
Two Chinese buyers have purchased the nation’s first commercial space flight tickets - at the eye-watering sum of £108,000.
As it stands, Virgin is charging hopeful cosmic travellers £466,000 for a single seat on its new Delta-class spaceship, which is due to take off in 2026.
The space company is intending to launch eight flights each month into outer-space, hoping to get a total of 750 passengers into orbit within a year.
Virgin Galactic is intending to launch eight flights each month into outer-space, hoping to get a total of 750 passengers into orbit within a year
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Meanwhile, Deep Blue Aerospace - the Chinese firm chasing space tourism - has said that it aims to send its astronauts into orbit within three years.
Over the past several years, space travel has started to gain momentum amongst select crowds beyond SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
Established by Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic has been considered the most successful space company so far, having completed its first space flight in 2021, despite several setbacks.
Since its first flight, Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity space-plane has launched seven commercial flights, taking around 37 private astronauts out of this world.
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The spacecraft reached 90km above Earth - which is sufficient to see the planet’s surface from above - which is around 11 times higher than a plane’s average altitude.
In fact, the passengers were close to the boundary of "outer space" - which scientists have labelled the Kármán line.
Beyond Branson, Jeff Bezos has also thrown his hat in the ring of space tourism as he created his Blue Origin project.
Since 2021, its passenger rocket - New Shepard - has taken eight flights to new heights, reaching a total of 37 passengers.
The most well-known space mission is Musk’s SpaceX, with rockets looking set to be fully orbital so that passengers can enjoy a longer trip.
Many of those who have experienced such a flight has spoken of the "overview effect" - the extraordinary feeling of gazing down upon the earth’s curvature from such a height
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Many of those who have experienced such a flight have spoken of the "overview effect" - the extraordinary feeling of gazing down upon the Earth’s curvature from such a height.
Bioastronautics researcher and Virgin Galactic customer Kellie Gerardi said: "I don’t think it’s something you can fully prepare for."
"I’ve spent years studying space and envisioning my own journey, but to see it with my own eyes… It’s incredible."
She added: "I think the most surreal thing was suddenly realising I wasn’t on the same planet as my daughter."
