How Much Does It Cost to Go to Space? Seat Prices From $750,000 to $55 Million

How much does it cost to go to space? The cheapest seat you can actually buy in 2026 is Virgin Galactic’s suborbital ride at $750,000, and the next step up is an orbital seat to the International Space Station, reported at around $55 million. Most of the other names people search for are not flying right now, so the useful answer is a price and a status for each.

This guide lays out what each kind of trip costs, who is selling it, what has been reported and when, and the extras that never appear in a headline price.

How Much Does It Cost to Go to Space?

There are four kinds of trip, and the prices differ by orders of magnitude.

A suborbital flight rises above the Kármán line (100 km, the line Astronomy cites for Blue Origin’s passenger count, 2026) and comes straight back down. An orbital flight reaches the space station and stays for days. A balloon flight climbs to the stratosphere, below that line. A lunar flight goes around the Moon, and the only one sold, dearMoon, was cancelled.

Few operators publish a price list. Where a company has not published a number, the table below says so, and the figure shown is what a named outlet reported, with its date. Read the status column first: a price for a flight that is paused is a historical figure, not an offer.

Suborbital Flights

A suborbital ticket is the entry point, and it is the only category where a price below seven figures exists. Two companies built the market. One is now selling again, and the other has stepped away.

Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic reopened sales on March 31, 2026, at $750,000 per seat, about $100,000 more than before its pause of nearly two years (Fox Business, March 31, 2026). The same report says the new Delta-class SpaceShips carry six passengers, up from four on the earlier Unity vehicle.

The price is only half the story, because the calendar matters as much. In its first-quarter 2026 earnings call, covered by MarketBeat in May 2026, the company said it had taken deposits on “a meaningful portion” of the seats at $750,000 and expected to close that tranche during the third-quarter glide-flight program. After that it plans to pause new bookings and later open another tranche “likely at a higher price.” The same coverage gives mid-2028 as the flight timing for seats in the $750,000 tranche. It also notes that most earlier customers, who bought at lower prices, are expected to fly in 2027.

The vehicle schedule is the same one MarketBeat reported: rocket-powered flights from the Delta ship in the fourth quarter of 2026, four flights a month in January 2027 and eight a month by the second quarter of 2027. Treat every Virgin Galactic date as a target until a paying flight has flown.

For anyone comparing Virgin Galactic ticket price against the rest of the market, the point to take away is that $750,000 is a floor, and the company itself says the next tranche will likely cost more.

Blue Origin

Blue Origin announced on January 30, 2026 that it would pause New Shepard flights for at least two years and redirect resources to its lunar program, including the New Glenn rocket and the Blue Moon lander (Astronomy, 2026). New Shepard had flown 38 times and carried 98 people above the Karman line, according to the same report.

The Blue Origin ticket price was never published. What exists is two data points: a single seat sold for up to $28 million at auction, and reserving a seat required a $150,000 refundable deposit (Astronomy, 2026). Neither is a retail price. With the vehicle grounded, there is no seat to buy at any price, and Blue Origin has not said publicly what happens to existing bookings. If you hold one, the contract is the only reliable guide.

Orbital Flights and the ISS

Orbital travel is a different business, and it is priced like a charter of an entire spacecraft, which in effect it is.

Axiom and SpaceX

Axiom Space sells private astronaut missions to the ISS on SpaceX Crew Dragon. NPR reported in January 2021 that each paying crew member would pay “around $55 million” for about eight days at the station. That is the most recent per-seat figure from a named news outlet. Axiom does not publish a current rate card, so read $55 million as a 2021 floor, not today’s price.

What is current is the schedule. BB.LV reported in January 2026 that NASA had announced a new contract with Axiom for a fifth mission, Ax-5, with four private astronauts spending about 14 days on the station, no earlier than January 2027. For the full picture of how a buyer thinks about the cost of a spectacular, rarely repeated experience, compare it with the most extravagant journeys on Earth, such as the most expensive cruise.

NASA’s Price List

NASA publishes a pricing policy for private astronaut missions to the ISS. Its page states that Table B covers only resources above the station’s baseline capability, that the values are representative, and that detailed pricing is negotiated at mission award (NASA pricing policy page, read November 2026). The current dollar figures are published as image tables on that page.

The older rates are on the record. NPR reported in January 2021 that NASA charged $11,250 per person per day for “regenerative life support and toilet” and $22,500 per person per day for crew supplies such as food and air. Today’s figures may differ, so use them only as an indication of scale. At those 2021 rates, a 14-day stay adds up to roughly $470,000 per person (our arithmetic: $33,750 a day for 14 days), a small fraction of a $55 million seat.

High-Altitude Balloons

Balloon flights are the cheapest “edge of space” product that has been announced, and the least dependable.

Space Perspective announced $125,000 seats in June 2020 for a six-hour trip: a two-hour climb to nearly 100,000 feet, two hours at altitude and a two-hour descent to an ocean splashdown (NewSpace Economy, January 20, 2025). By July 2023 the company had sold more than 1,600 tickets on a $1,000 deposit each, at least $1.6 million in deposits. In January 2025 it was served a five-day eviction notice over $90,295 in unpaid rent at its Florida airport base, and the report says it had furloughed staff and effectively ceased operations, with the status of deposits uncertain.

No paying passenger is on record as having flown with the company. If you are tempted by a balloon ticket, the first question is not the price but whether the operator exists. The altitude is also not space: 100,000 feet is about 30 km, well under the 100 km line.

What You Pay Beyond the Ticket

The headline number is the part you can compare. The rest is where the real cost sits.

Deposits and Refund Terms

Deposits are the clearest cost to model, because they lock capital for years. Space Perspective asked for $1,000 per ticket; Blue Origin asked for a $150,000 refundable deposit (Astronomy, 2026). Virgin Galactic says it has taken deposits on the $750,000 seats, but has not published the deposit amount or refund terms, so ask for them in writing. A cancelled project shows the downside: the dearMoon flight around the Moon was cancelled on June 1, 2024, with Yusaku Maezawa saying it was still uncertain when Starship could launch. The cost of that trip was never disclosed, and Elon Musk said Maezawa’s deposit would help pay for Starship development, according to Cosmic Log, June 2024.

Training

Spaceflight is not a seat on a plane. Every provider requires some preparation before launch, and no provider publishes a separate price for it. If you are budgeting, treat training, travel to the launch site and insurance as additional lines to confirm with the provider.

Time

The calendar is a cost too. A $750,000 Virgin Galactic seat in the current tranche flies around mid-2028, and an Axiom seat depends on a mission that NASA has not yet scheduled beyond “no earlier than” January 2027. Money that sits in a deposit for years has a price, and so does the risk that a company changes course.

Space Tourism Cost Compared With Other Luxury Spending

Space tourism cost looks different next to the rest of the high end, because the price buys a few minutes of experience rather than an asset or a stay. If your interest is speed and altitude rather than weightlessness, see the fastest private jets in the world and what it costs to charter a private jet. For trips on the ground that reward the same appetite for rare places, the luxury vacation destinations guide is the better start, and the most expensive hotels in the world show where the ceiling sits for a night.

More guides are on the Wijet travel hub.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to go to space with Virgin Galactic?

A seat costs $750,000, according to Fox Business (March 2026). The company said in May 2026 that it will close that tranche soon, pause bookings and later reopen at a likely higher price (MarketBeat, May 2026). Seats in the current tranche fly around mid-2028.

How much does it cost to go to space with Blue Origin?

Blue Origin has never published a price. A seat sold for up to $28 million at auction and a reservation needed a $150,000 refundable deposit (Astronomy, 2026). New Shepard flights have been paused since January 30, 2026, for at least two years, so no seat is currently for sale.

How much does it cost to go to the moon?

No lunar seat is on sale. The dearMoon flight around the Moon on Starship was cancelled on June 1, 2024, and its price was never disclosed (Cosmic Log, June 2024). Blue Origin's Moon work, including the Blue Moon lander, is aimed at NASA's Artemis program (Astronomy, 2026).

What is the SpaceX ticket price per person?

SpaceX does not list one. Private ISS seats are sold by Axiom on Crew Dragon, and NPR reported around $55 million each in January 2021. Axiom does not publish a current price, so ask the company for one.

How much is it to go to space for a short trip?

A suborbital flight is the shortest and cheapest option. Virgin Galactic sells it at $750,000 per seat (Fox Business, March 2026). Blue Origin offered the same kind of flight until it paused New Shepard in January 2026, and it never published a price (Astronomy, 2026).