Space tourism

The space tourism industry is on the brink of commercial reality

Virgin Galactic launched its first tourist passengers into the weightlessness of space Thursday, the culmination of a nearly two-decade commercial pursuit, the company said.

The three passengers -- Jon Goodwin, Keisha Schahaff, and her teenage daughter Anastatia Mayers - floated gravity-free through the Virgin spacecraft about 45 minutes after taking off.

Amazon has said it will invest $120 million to build a satellite construction facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, as part of its plans to launch a space internet service to rival SpaceX's Starlink.

Virgin Galactic successfully carried out its first spaceflight in nearly two years on May 25 , the company said, after an "enhancement period" to make safety upgrades to its fleet.

Jeff Bezos' rocket company has won a NASA contract to land astronauts on the moon, two years after it lost out to SpaceX.

Blue Origin received a $3.4 billion contract to lead a team to develop a lunar lander named Blue Moon.
It will be used to transport astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2029, following a pair of crew landings by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Flying chunks of concrete, twisted metal sheets, craters blasted deep into the ground: The thunderous power of SpaceX's first test flight of Starship - the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built - inflicted serious damage on its Texas launch site.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company blasted its third private crew into space on Dec. 11 and brought it back safely, this time including the daughter of the first American astronaut.

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who blasts off for the International Space Station this week, is an irreverent space enthusiast who has made headlines for splashing the cash on modern art.

The 46-year-old tycoon is the founder of Japan's largest online fashion mall and is the country's 30th-richest person, according to business magazine Forbes.

Billionaire Jeff Bezos intends to build a private space station. It is expected to be almost as big as the International Space Station.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin on Oct. 25 announced it wants to launch a space station that will house up to 10 people in the second half of the decade, as the race to commercialize the cosmos heats up.