Jeff Bezos-led Blue Origin launched its towering New Glenn rocket for the first time in January 2025, marking what seems to be a crucial milestone for the space company. The launch became a defining moment for Blue Origin. Founded 25 years ago, Bezos’ company had yet to begin flying to orbit, with its much smaller “New Shepard” rocket only flying people and research on short jaunts to the edge of space.
New Glenn’s flight marks Blue Origin’s entrance into a market dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and is crucial to unlocking the centi-billionaire founder’s larger ambitions. The New Glenn flight carried a single small test payload into space.
Originally, the company aimed for the audacious feat of flying NASA’s “ESCAPADE” mission to Mars on New Glenn’s debut. However, with a dwindling launch window, the agency delayed ESCAPADE to a later launch. However, we will focus not on Blue Origin, but on the ecosystem in which the venture is operating: space tourism.
A growing industry
Seattle-headquartered Blue Origin is now planning to scale the New Glenn missions quickly, performing as many as 10 launches in 2025 alone. Given that the rocket was originally targeted for a 2020 debut, it has faced years of delays. The long-term plan for the venture is to challenge the dominance of SpaceX in the American rocketry market.
In May 2024, it announced the resumption of space tourist flights after an almost two-year hiatus resulting from a failed unmanned test flight in 2022. The concept of “space tourism” has become more of a commercial activity, with people travelling into space for recreational purposes rather than scientific or professional reasons. The industry has seen a surge in recent years, with several companies offering seats on their spacecraft to citizens willing to pay a premium to experience spaceflight.
Space tourism started in April 2001, when American businessman and engineer Dennis Tito became the first-ever “space tourist” to travel to space aboard a Soyuz-TM32 spacecraft, sponsored by Space Adventures. Since then, 63 individuals have experienced the thrill of spaceflight as tourists, with notable surges in private individuals launching in 2021 and 2022.
As of 2025, there are five names synonymous with “space tourism”: Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, Space Adventures, SpaceX, and Axiom Space. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital, and lunar space tourism. In 2023, Global Market Insights published a report estimating that the industry may be worth $129 billion by 2032.
According to experts, more than the technical implications, space tourism needs to address legal and environmental considerations. At a time when all industrial verticals of the 21st-century global economy are going green, people are flagging the potential pollution that space travel may produce. However, the sector is well aware of this and is taking early steps to avoid controversies. Blue Origin, in one of its flights, used hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which are fuels with a lower environmental footprint.
Rules being rewritten
What about balloons carrying space tourists into the high stratosphere? Yes, it’s becoming a reality, as aerospace companies like Spain’s Halo Space, France’s Zephalto, and Florida’s Space Perspective are working towards earning commercial licenses that could come as early as 2025.
Attached to advanced stratospheric “space” balloons, specially designed luxury capsules, like Space Perspective’s Neptune, will travel at around 12 miles per hour on a six-hour journey from the surface of the planet, 100,000 feet into the stratosphere before descending back to Earth.
Space Perspective Co-founder Jane Poynter said, “The gradual ascent will allow people’s minds to adjust to the scale change of geography, like the Florida peninsula, as the famous landmass slowly shrinks.”
Such conditions lead to the overview effect, which NASA describes as a powerful shift in the way space travellers think about Earth and their place in the cosmos. People inside Space Perspective’s Neptune spaceship will experience the same gravity as on Earth, as well as little to no turbulence. During the journey’s apex, passengers will be able to see the Earth’s blue curvature through 360-degree panoramic windows.
“The capsule also comes equipped with the amenities you would expect from a private jet, including Wi-Fi connectivity (for those selfies in space), a stocked bar, and the finest gourmet cuisine served during the flight. A trip aboard space balloon Neptune can also be customised for those who want to buy out an entire flight for their family and friends,” Poynter told Jetset, while further stating that clients have expressed interest in releasing albums from space, hosting weddings, and even bringing their pianos onboard.
Halo Space and Zephalto’s spacecraft will take around four hours to reach the highest level of the journey, the apogee, where passengers will escape approximately 99% of the Earth’s atmosphere. Although technically still in the stratosphere, the altitude will make it seem as though they are floating above the Earth, according to Halo Space’s website, promising an accessible, cheaper way to experience views a relative few have ever witnessed. Like Space Perspective’s Neptune, these other capsules have been designed to enhance the view from the high stratosphere and promote a comfortable, social atmosphere.
Inspired by “art de vivre,” or “the knowledge of how to enjoy life,” the view from Zephalto’s Celeste capsule’s interior has been customised for a contemplative experience—promoting total immersion in observing the Earth from 15.5 miles into the stratosphere. The company plans to begin commercial flights in 2025, with all flights already fully booked. Zephalto initially plans six flights a year.
Zephalto and Halo Space will have pilots onboard, with the overall flight automated and closely monitored from Earth. The capsules have parachutes built in for the event that the stratospheric balloons fail.
What makes space ballooning a safe travel option is its proven performance record. NASA and the European Space Agency have been using balloons to conduct research, and none of them has ever experienced inflight failure. Balloon flights will also come at a significantly lower price point, with each ride costing $125,000 per person.
A beginning of an ecosystem
What was once a government-controlled domain, space travel has taken a capitalistic turn post-2000, with the trio of Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and Elon Musk, through their space ventures (Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and SpaceX), ushering in a new era where travelling to the unknown has taken a “leisurely” turn, compared to the NASA or European Space Agency missions, where resources are deployed to learn more about our planetary systems and galaxies.
The most common tourist offerings available now are the multi-million-dollar suborbital flights that give travellers a quick hit of space. Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, for example, recently saw its rocket, “New Shepard,” complete its 26th flight. In September 2024, SpaceX sent the Polaris Dawn crew into orbit aboard its Dragon capsule, hitting the highest altitude since Apollo and performing the first spacewalk by commercial astronauts.
SpaceX also had a breakthrough with its first successful “chopsticks” landing, using mechanical arms to catch the Super Heavy booster after launch. This system could reshape space tourism by cutting costs and boosting launch frequency. By eliminating traditional landing gear and accelerating rocket reuse, the method will reduce turnaround times between flights. For the space tourism market, this innovation brings SpaceX closer to affordable, mass-accessible space travel.
Also, brands are trying to leverage the cultural aspect of space. Omega, which supplied watches for NASA on the Apollo mission, now has a next-generation moon watch. American sportswear company “Under Armour” created the spacesuits for Virgin Galactic pilots. Adidas is partnering with the ISS National Lab to test footwear in the extreme conditions of space, designing “for athletes on and off Earth.”
Renowned luxury retailer Prada created the spacesuits for Axiom Space, whose mission includes boosting space tourism. Axiom is ready for all the various sizes and shapes of human bodies, noting that the suits have increased sizing and adjustability to accommodate a wider range of the general population.
However, the eventual future of space tourism hinges upon several key factors: the ability to accommodate people in orbit, evolving regulations and legal frameworks, and the level of demand from wealthy customers. By 2035, the World Economic Forum projects the space tourism market to reach $4-6 billion annually, driven primarily by luxury stays aboard space stations, with ultra-wealthy individuals eager to experience life beyond Earth.
Suborbital flights, while expected to become more affordable over time, are predicted to account for a smaller slice of revenue, generating $1-$2 billion a year. However, the growth potential could expand significantly if larger spacecraft, like SpaceX’s Starship, begin taking more passengers on short orbital trips.
As private companies push the boundaries of space tourism, the risks associated with spaceflight will remain. Will there be a scenario like the extended stay of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the ISS be avoided? The answer is no. Originally intended to last just over a week, their mission has stretched into months since 2024 due to a series of technical failures aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
NASA and Boeing had to return the Starliner to Earth without its crew. Now, the two astronauts are set to return in early 2025 aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, demonstrating how unpredictable and fraught with challenges space travel remains.
Environment: The biggest con
Critics have pointed to the environmental impact of frequent rocket launches, which release vast amounts of carbon dioxide and pollutants, potentially undoing years of climate progress. Then there is the debate around the wealth disparity each trip represents. Some detractors also wonder whether resources being funnelled into space tourism could be better spent addressing critical issues on Earth, such as poverty.
However, the climate concerns are genuine here, as the emissions for a space tourist are astronomically higher (as much as 100 times higher per tourist), according to a 2021 estimate. Creating the necessary thrust to reach the escape velocity required to break free of Earth’s gravitational pull requires the burning of a phenomenal amount of fuel. The hot exhaust produced by rocket thrusters alters the physics and chemistry of the surrounding atmosphere as it passes through it.
“Rockets release a huge amount of water vapour into the atmosphere, and this occurs at considerably higher altitudes than with aeroplanes. While water sounds harmless, high in the atmosphere, where there is almost no water, it has a potent warming effect. The high temperatures generated during launch and re-entry transform the nitrogen naturally in the air into nitrogen oxides, potent greenhouse gases,” stated Carbon Market Watch.
Some two-thirds of the exhaust from rocket launches gets absorbed in the stratosphere (second layer of the atmosphere) and the mesosphere (third layer). Scientists are yet to fully understand the long-term effects of pollution so high up in the atmosphere, with some dubbing it the “ignorosphere.” However, scientists are now attempting to penetrate the fog around the climate impact of rocket launches. In addition to their warming effects, nitrogen oxides and water vapour pumped into the stratosphere deplete the ozone layer by converting ozone into oxygen. This can threaten the recovery of the ozone layer, which has accompanied the decades-old phasing out of chlorofluorocarbons.
“Although a rocket launch releases, on average, a seventh of the carbon dioxide emitted by an aeroplane, it emits hundreds of times more carbon soot particles than a plane. Carbon soot, also known as black carbon, absorbs light from the sun and then releases it as thermal energy, warming the surrounding air. In the atmosphere, soot falls back down to the ground in a matter of weeks. However, in the stratosphere, it can hang there for up to four years, prolonging its damaging effect. This is reflected in the fact that even though rocket soot represents only 0.01% of soot emissions, it was responsible for some 3% of the global warming effect caused by the soot humanity pumps into the atmosphere, according to one estimate,” Carbon Market Watch noted.
A rocket launch upsets the delicate CO2 balance in the higher reaches of the atmosphere. Starting from around 43.5 km up, a Falcon 9 (SpaceX launcher) spews out more CO2 than is contained in a cubic kilometre of air for each kilometre it climbs, researchers calculated. At 70 km, this climbs to an astounding 25 times the CO2 in a cubic kilometre of surrounding air.
At present, space flight is equivalent to at most 2% of the emissions of the aviation sector, but plans to expand space tourism and commercial spaceflight could lead the sector’s climate footprint to explode, leading to far-reaching environmental consequences. The soot released by increased traffic would raise temperatures in the stratosphere, deplete the ozone, and have a warming effect that is almost 500 times more intense than similar emissions from aircraft or surface sources.
“This black carbon would also disrupt atmospheric circulation by slowing the movement of air from the tropics to the upper atmosphere,” another study concluded, “leading to further depletion of the ozone layer. The researchers discovered that the stratosphere is sensitive to relatively modest black carbon injections,” Carbon Market Watch observed.
Space tourism: The future is now
The World Monuments Fund, whose mission is to preserve cultural heritage sites around the globe, in a January 15 announcement, named the moon among 25 at-risk sites, with the expectation that trips to the lunar surface will become the norm in the not-so-distant future. The WMF now warns that moon tourism could threaten more than 90 lunar landing and impact sites, including Tranquillity Base, where American astronaut Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon.
WMF officials fear the lunar landscape may be victim to looters looking for souvenirs and private lunar exploration, potentially destroying iconic footprints and tracks that are part of human history if something isn’t done to protect them now. The organisation is now urging international collaboration to preserve the moon.
While the concept of space travel has been all about democratising the exploration of the unknown, it also comes with the “climate risk,” along with the bigger worry of threatening the sanctity of, for example, lunar landing and impact sites. While the idea of “space tourism” has an exciting prospect for the future, in order to be fully successful, it must address the concerns raised by detractors, especially those related to the environment.