Tickets for Chinese private firm's space travel sold online, scheduled for 2027

Two tickets for space travel scheduled for 2027 were sold immediately during a livestream event on China's e-commerce giant Taobao, the Global Times learned from Deep Blue Aerospace, a private aerospace start-up, on Thursday. The suborbital manned spacecraft will be launched with the company's reusable carrier rocket Nebula-1.

"The spacecraft has a maximum flight altitude of 100 to 150 kilometers, allowing you to cross the Kármán line and enter the edge of space," Taobao customer service told the Global Times. "The suborbital flight lasts about 12 minutes, during which you will experience at least 5 minutes of weightlessness."

The price for a round-trip ticket is 1.5 million yuan ($210,900), which is less than half the cost of Virgin Galactic's suborbital flights. Virgin Galactic recently set its ticket price at $450,000 for a roughly 90-minute journey to the edge of space, according to media reports.

The buyers have paid a 50,000-yuan deposit fee each during Thursday's livestream sales. The identities of the buyers remain unknown, the Global Times learned from the company, but people between the ages of 18 and 60 who are in good health are all eligible to purchase.

Next, the buyers will undergo a strict physical evaluation to determine whether they will be suitable for the flight, as the trip can be challenging for individuals with health conditions, such as heart issues or epilepsy.

"The suborbital spacecraft will land using a parachute system, ensuring that passengers return to Earth safely," the customer service said.

A notice said that the deposit can be refunded without reason within seven days of purchase.

According to the company, passengers will experience far more than just a brief moment of weightlessness during the suborbital spaceflight. They will experience in person the vastness and mystery of the universe and witness breathtaking views beyond Earth, which is designed to be an unforgettable and immersive space journey of a lifetime.

The event aroused heated discussions on social media with netizens divided in their attitudes. While some netizens showed great interest and expressed excitement about space travel, others were concerned about the safety of the trip and believed only the wealthy will have the opportunity.

The company's decision to offer a three-year presale stems from a deep understanding of the complexity and risks involved in rocket technology. During this period, the company will be fully dedicated to technological development, tests, and performance optimization to ensure the rocket meets the highest safety standards.

Huo Liang, CEO of Deep Blue Aerospace introduced the space travel program via livestreaming on Thursday evening and said that while the cost of space tourism is indeed quite high at present, as the company's reusable rocket technology matures, the cost of space travel in the future will significantly decrease.

Manned space travel has already been realized in countries like the UK and the US. Space tourism company Virgin Galactic from the UK successfully launched a test spaceflight in 2021 and completed its first commercial spaceflight in 2023.

Blue Origin, the space tourism and exploration firm founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, also successfully carried the first paying customer to space and back in 2021. That same year, Elon Musk's SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule spacecraft took four passengers on a three-day orbital space tour, the first-ever flight to Earth's orbit flown entirely by tourists or otherwise non-astronauts.

In China, several commercial aerospace companies are also focused on realizing the commercial development of space tourism.

Experts said that China's space industry has already gained extensive experience in operating crewed spacecraft. However, as a consumer-oriented tourism project, it faces a major challenge in commercialization due to high costs. Therefore, reusable rockets have become critical to reducing the costs of space tourism.

Last month, Deep Blue Aerospace conducted the first high-altitude vertical recovery flight test of its Nebula-1 rocket at a spaceport in Ejin Banner, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The test marked a significant milestone as it represented China's inaugural high-altitude recovery test for an orbital launch vehicle, although the mission was not completely successful after an anomaly occurred in the final landing phase.

The company plans to carry out another high-altitude vertical recovery flight attempt of the Nebula-1 rocket in November 2024. In the first quarter of 2025, the company expects to achieve the orbital flight and recovery of the Nebula-1.

Since its establishment in 2016, Deep Blue Aerospace has focused on the research and development of reusable rockets. Between 2021 and 2022, the company successfully completed China's first vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) flight of a kerosene-liquid oxygen rocket.