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Home/Current Affairs/Space Tourism

Space Tourism

16 Apr 2025

Space Tourism

Recently, pop star Katy Perry flew to space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.

Space Tourism

  • The mission lasted approximately 11 minutes, reaching over 100 kilometers above Earth, briefly crossing the Kármán line and allowing a few moments of weightlessness.
  • It marked the first all-women crew in space since 1963, drawing attention to the growing space tourism industry.

About Space Tourism

  • Space tourism refers to commercial space travel for recreational, leisure, or business purposes.
  • Types of Space Tourism:
    • Sub-Orbital: The sub-orbital spacecraft takes passengers just beyond the Kármán line.
      • The passengers get to spend a few minutes in space and then come back to Earth.
    • Orbital: The orbital spacecraft, on the other hand, takes passengers much further than the Kármán line. 
      • In such a trip the passengers can spend from a couple of days to more than a week at an altitude of nearly 1.3 million feet.
  • Key Players: Major private companies in the industry include Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and SpaceX, all of which launched their first missions in 2021.

About Kármán line

  • The Kármán line is a boundary 62 miles (100 kilometers) above mean sea level that borders Earth’s atmosphere and the beginning of space.
  • Limitation: However, defining exactly where space begins can be rather tricky. This is because Earth’s atmosphere doesn’t end abruptly but instead gets thinner and thinner at higher altitudes, which means there’s no definitive upper boundary.
  • For Example: For NASA and the U.S. military space starts at an altitude of 50 miles (around 80 kilometers), according to NOAA. 
  • However, to the international community, including the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), space starts a little higher, at 62 miles (100 km), at the Kármán line.

Pros and Cons of Space Tourism

Aspect Pros Cons
Accessibility Inspires interest in space exploration and science. Currently accessible only to the ultra-wealthy, with tickets ranging from $450,000 upward.
Innovation and Research Potential for microgravity experiments and private sector involvement in space technology. Limited scientific breakthroughs; most experiments can already be done on the ISS.
Representation Promotes inclusion (e.g., all-female missions); enhances public visibility of space travel. Criticized for being symbolic and indulgent rather than impactful or progressive.
Environmental Impact Encourages new technologies that might become cleaner in the future. Rockets emit pollutants like nitrogen oxides and soot,

It also contributes to ozone layer depletion

Also Read
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