Today is December 15, 2030. Influenced by the launch of the first manned mission to Mars next month, you will most likely get a gift card for a space trip.
The interest in trips, 100km above the surface of the Earth, has grown steadily since such a trip began. However, the market has grown much larger this year since the official announcement of the Mars mission. More low-cost spacelines have entered the market and you can now find the price for such a trip is as low as $3,495. It's very reasonable.
Space tourism (旅游业;观光业) is one of the markets that have developed fast during the last decade, with the opening of the Starbright Hotel on the moon as well as the low orbital (轨道的) hotels that started accepting guests. However, accommodation (住宿) in space is still expensive for theaveragehousehold, so the suborbital (亚轨道的) flights with thirty-minute weightlessness during the three-hour flight 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) in the 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 as possible to get back the large investment. Even if the elevator (电梯) becomes successful, it will take several years before there are more elevators in the world to get in the competition for space traffic with the spacelines.
Those who are looking for a little bit of adventure and have extra money to spend may want to consider a suborbital flight in space. While a suborbital flight may not be the space mission that you have always dreamed of, it will give you the rare 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 flight first.
