Today isDecember 15, 2030. Influenced by the launch of the first manned mission to Marsnext month, you will most likely get a gift card for a space trip.
Theinterest in trips, 100km above the surface of the Earth, has grown steadilysince such a trip began. However, the market has grown much larger this yearsince the official announcement of the Mars mission. More low-cost spacelineshave entered the market and you can now find the price for such a trip is aslow as $3,495. It's very reasonable.
Spacetourism (旅游业;观光业) is one of the markets that have developed fast during the lastdecade, with the opening of the Starbright Hotel on the moon as well as the loworbital (轨道的) hotels that started accepting guests.However, accommodation (住宿) in space is still expensivefor theaverage household, so the suborbital (亚轨道的) flights with thirty-minute weightlessness during the three-hourflight will for some time be the most popular trip.
However,the spacelines might face fierce (激烈的) competition for space elevators (太空升降舱) inthe future, like the one that is projected to start construction (建造) within two years. Once it is fully functional (工作的), it will
start to ship cargo (货物) to space. But it will accept passengers as soon aspossible to get back the large investment. Even if the elevator (电梯) becomes successful, it will take several years before there aremore elevators in the world to get in the competition for space traffic withthe spacelines.
Those whoare looking for a little bit of adventure and have extra money to spend maywant to consider a suborbital flight in space. While a suborbital flight maynot be the space mission that you have always dreamed of, it will give you therare opportunity to see what our planet looks like in a high-altitude (高度) flight outside our atmosphere.So before you enjoy a trip by elevator to space, enjoy a suborbital flightfirst.
