NEWS – Entrepreneur and pilot Gopi Thotakura is set to become the first Indian to venture into space as a tourist on the NS-25 mission of Blue Origin — a company founded by Jeff Bezos, who is also the founder of Amazon.

WHAT IS SPACE TOURISM?

Space tourism refers to a segment within aviation that offers individuals the chance to experience space travel for recreational, leisure, or business purposes. There are two primary types:

1. Sub-Orbital Space Tourism: This type involves spacecraft that take passengers just beyond the Kármán line, approximately 100 kilometers above Earth’s surface, marking the boundary between the atmosphere and outer space. Passengers experience a few minutes in space before returning to Earth.
2. Orbital Space Tourism: In this category, spacecraft take passengers much farther beyond the Kármán line, allowing for longer durations in space, typically ranging from a few days to over a week at an altitude of about 1.3 million feet.

An example of sub-orbital space tourism is Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft, designed specifically for space tourism experiences like the NS-25 mission. Orbital space tourism examples include SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which in September 2021 carried four passengers for a multi-day orbit around the Earth.