Leaving Earth (Briefly): The Rise and Reach of Space Tourism

Space tourism was never modest in fiction.

In 2001: A Space Odyssey, passengers travel aboard a silent spaceplane to a wheel-shaped orbital station, sipping drinks in artificial gravity. In Total Recall, vacations to Mars are sold as packages. More recently, The Expanse and For All Mankind imagine hotels in orbit, luxury shuttles, and lunar resorts.

These visions offered more than entertainment — they normalized the idea that ordinary people (not just astronauts) might one day leave Earth, even briefly.

Reality, so far, is much quieter.

The Present: Suborbital, Short, and Expensive

Space tourism exists today, but in a very limited form. A handful of companies now offer short-duration experiences to a small number of paying customers:

Blue Origin’s New Shepard launches people above the Kármán line (~100 km), with a few minutes of weightlessness before descending by parachute.
Virgin Galactic offers similar suborbital hops, using a spaceplane released from a carrier aircraft.
SpaceX has taken private passengers on orbital flights — like Inspiration4 or missions arranged through Axiom Space to the International Space Station.

These are real accomplishments, but they’re short, expensive, and mostly symbolic. You go up, float for a bit, and come down. It’s not space living, it’s space tasting.

There is no hotel. No view that lasts longer than a few hours. No unpacking your toothbrush.

The Future: Stays, Views, and Purpose

Over the next few decades, space tourism may move from brief excursions to extended stays — and from thrill-seeking to meaningful experience.

We may see:

Short-term stays in commercial space stations, like those proposed by Axiom or Voyager Space.
Dedicated observation modules — where the key experience is watching Earth slowly rotate beneath you.
Lunar flybys or even surface landings, for those with higher budgets and training.
Research-tourism hybrids, where travelers help with light scientific tasks in exchange for lower fares.

The key will be infrastructure: safe, repeatable transport and semi-permanent destinations. And prices will need to fall — dramatically.

Business Opportunities

Even in its early stages, space tourism presents opportunities beyond rocket development:

Training and preparation — physical and psychological support for civilian passengers.
Interior and habitat design — spaces suited for comfort, safety, and awe.
Earth observation and data — tourists may collect or contribute data while in orbit.
Space health tech — monitoring, exercise systems, recovery solutions.
Entertainment and media — streaming experiences from orbit; immersive content.

Countries like Portugal, though not yet building rockets, can play a part. With its growing aerospace sector, Atlantic positioning, and interest in dual-use technologies, Portugal could support downstream services — like training centers, mission simulations, or Earth-based infrastructure for communications and support.

Already, Santa Maria island in the Azores is being considered as a spaceport for small satellite launches. The same infrastructure could one day support tourism logistics: launch prep, return services, or even spaceflight recovery facilities.

A Borderless Perspective

Space has no borders. It doesn’t recognize nation-states. But Earth-based industries still operate from somewhere. Design, planning, training, tracking, communications, software, insurance — all of these are critical to tourism, and they can be developed anywhere.

We often ask who will go to space.

But the better question is: what systems must be built to make that possible, repeatable, and worthwhile?

For students, entrepreneurs, and engineers, those systems offer work — not someday, but soon.

By Pedro Lacerda