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Traveling to space could soon get a lot cheaper.
Bargain Spacement
Chinese space startup Deep Blue Aerospace recently took to social media to announce the sale of tickets for a 12-minute journey to the edge of space, which could take place as soon as 2027.
Tickets were in hot demand, with the company selling two tickets for $210,000 apiece within a 20-minute live stream on the e-commerce platform Taobao. The company plans to sell more tickets sometime next month.
While that may sound like a lot of money, it’s a fraction of the $600,000 it costs for a similar flight on board Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo space plane. And soaring to the edge of space on board Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket has been rumored to cost more than twice that per seat.
But Deep Blue Aerospace still has a lot to prove. So far, the company has only begun testing a vertical take-off and landing of its liquid oxygen-kerosene “Nebula-1” rocket. Last month, the company’s rocket suffered an anomaly, resulting in a massive fireball on the launch pad.
The company, however, claims in a statement that early next year, its rocket will make it to an altitude of at least 62 miles and back in one piece, a lofty goal that could set the stage for China’s nascent commercial space industry.
Risky Business
In its press release, Deep Blue Aerospace admitted that it “understands profoundly the complexity and risks,” as translated by the South China Morning Post, of sending human passengers to the edge of space, vowing to complete dozens of trials in the next two years.
The company’s crew module, which bears a more-than-just-striking resemblance to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in recently shared concept art, can seat up to six passengers and features six windows. The company claims it can be reused up to 50 times.
But when or if the rocket will ever make it off the ground, to the edge of space, and back remains to be seen.
However, several other Chinese companies are looking to offer very similar trips, including CAS Space, which is planning to sell tickets for anywhere from $281,000 to $421,000.
More on China’s space ambitions: Watch Astronauts Give a Rare Tour of China’s Luxurious Space Station
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