It looks like you’ll be able to hitch a ride to space in a couple of years if you have the money to pay for it. There are many private space companies out there that want to start commercial space tourism but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ wants to lead the pack. Bezos has said that Blue Origin expects to take tourists up to space as soon as 2018.
Bezos made this claim while speaking to journalists at the company’s headquarters in Washington state. He mentioned that groups of six tourists will be able to make short trips to space which will allow them to experience weightlessness.
The two-year timeline is contingent upon rocket tests proceeding without any major problems that could force Blue Origin to push back the timeline. Blue Origin expects to start its first piloted test flights to space by next year.
Blue Origin hopes to start testing the new engine, called BE-4, before the end of this year. Even though the company hasn’t started accepting deposits yet for the trips, Bezos has said that thousands of people have expressed their interest to go along for a ride.
One can only imagine how much Blue Origin is going to charge for these trips to space but I’m sure it’s certainly not going to be cheap.
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