Space tourism-past to future: a perspective article

Purpose: This paper aims to briefly review the history and future expectations for space tourism. Design/methodology/approach: Historical review. Findings: After a series of successes in space travel, culminating by the Apollo 11 Moon landings in 1969, governmental efforts at space travel stalled. In the early twenty-first century, private entrepreneurs inspired new life into space travel and tourism, offering commercial suborbital trips, but none have as yet actually taken place. However, despite impediments, a significant expansion of space travel and tourism is expected to occur in the course of the twenty-first century. Originality/value: The paper offers a synoptic view of past and projected future developments in space travel and tourism.