At the beginning of this year, a piece of news about space tourism sparked heated public discussion. Many people in the fields of science and technology and literature and art signed up to become space tourists and received spaceship tickets worth 3 million yuan.
Some people imagine that in the near future, they can also take a space tour on a spaceship? At this year’s National Two Sessions, many representatives and committee members shared their views on this.
"Foreign companies have been early in the space tourism business. Companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic have successfully completed commercial manned spaceflights. Tourists can not only experience orbital residence, but also conduct commercial spacewalks," said Zhang Tao, a representative of the National People's Congress and a professor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Chinese companies are relatively late in developing the space tourism business, but in recent years, several domestic commercial aerospace companies have launched layouts and have successively entered the stages of technology verification and engineering development. "There are multiple driving factors behind this." Zhang Tao believes that on the one hand, it is the significant improvement in technological maturity. After years of technology accumulation and engineering practice, my country has made major breakthroughs in key technologies such as rocket recovery and manned spacecraft, laying a solid technical foundation for the commercial operation of space tourism.
On the other hand, a good policy environment creates favorable conditions for industrial development. "Take my country as an example. The National Space Administration's Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality and Safe Development of Commercial Spaceflight (2025-2027)" issued in 2025 clearly clarifies support for new business formats such as space tourism." Zhang Tao said.
The reporter found out that the price of space tickets, whether domestic or foreign, is very high, usually ranging from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of dollars, and it is not an ordinary consumer-grade product. Zhang Tao pointed out that factors affecting the price of space tickets include technology costs, industry scale and market competition.
From a technical perspective, developing space tourism requires crossing several key thresholds. The first is the reliability and safety of launch. Space tourism must ensure the safety of tourists throughout the flight. This is the core and most basic requirement. Second is the mature application of reusable carrier technology, which is directly related to whether costs can be effectively reduced. In addition, the development of space tourism also requires the establishment of a complete technical system and safety guarantee mechanism in multiple aspects such as flight control, return and landing, and ground support. "The technical threshold for these links is relatively high, which also raises the price of space tickets accordingly," Zhang Tao said.
Previously, Zhang Guangjun, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and former vice minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said in an interview with the media that my country currently has a certain layout for commercial operations such as space tourism, but it is still in the stage of research, development and utilization of space resources. It will take a long process to make space tourism affordable for ordinary people.
Zhang Tao believes that promoting space tourism and other commercial space activities to accelerate the era of mass consumption requires efforts from many aspects. On the one hand, commercial aerospace companies need to continuously innovate in technology research and development and business models, and reduce costs through technological breakthroughs. On the other hand, universities, scientific research institutes and enterprises need to establish a closer cooperation mechanism to form an ecosystem of collaborative innovation, accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and promote breakthroughs in key commercial aerospace technologies.
