Space tourism flights with Virgin and Blue Origin are mere months from lift-off. Their journeys will be worlds apart

While Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic will take passengers aloft in something resembling a private jet, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will use send them hurtling into space atop an 18-metre rocket

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This December 12, 2017, handout photograph provided by Blue Origin shows the New Shepard Booster landing on a pad in West Texas after a successful test flight. Photo: Agence France-Presse

Published: 2:47pm, 13 Jul 2018Updated: 11:03pm, 13 Jul 2018

The two companies leading the pack in the pursuit of space tourism say they are just months away from their first passenger flights, though neither has set a firm date.

Virgin Galactic, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, and Blue Origin, by Amazon creator Jeff Bezos, are racing to be the first to finish their tests – with both companies using radically different technology.

Neither Virgin nor Blue Origin’s passengers will find themselves orbiting the Earth: instead, their weightless experience will last just minutes. It’s an offering far different from the first space tourists, who paid tens of millions of dollars to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) in the 2000s.

Having paid for a much cheaper ticket – costing US$250,000 with Virgin, and US$200,000-US$300,000 with Blue Origin – the new round of space tourists will be propelled 80-100km high, before coming back down to Earth. By comparison, the ISS is in orbit 400km from our planet.

This May 29, 2018, handout photograph provided by Virgin Galactic shows the Virgin Spaceship Unity. Photo: Agence France-Presse

The goal is to approach or pass through the imaginary line marking where space begins – either the Karman line, at 100km, or the 80km boundary recognised by the US Air Force.

At this altitude, the sky looks black and the curvature of the Earth can be seen clearly.