Space Tourism At Last

The ships Virgin Galactic and possibly others will be using for tourist trips to space won't be based on SpaceShipOne's design but instead upon a new design Burt Rutan is going to develop over the next three years called SpaceShipTwo, which will basically be SpaceShipOne scaled up to carry an extra two passengers for a total of five (one pilot and four tourists.) If everyone's plans work out, within 4 years a trip to space will cost between $90,000 and $200,000 USD.

If even those ridiculously low prices (compared to the $20,000,000 USD which has been paid in the past) are out of your budget, don't worry: 7-UP will be giving away at least one free ride.

Yes folks, after fifty years of "someday" promises, semi-affordable space tourism will be a reality before the close of the decade.