BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese commercial space company CAS Space said its “space tourism vehicle” will make its first flight in 2027 and travel to the edge of space in 2028, state media reported on Friday. .
The announcement comes as Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin Inc.’s New Shepard rocket, which quickly flies cargo and people to the edge of space, resumed flight on Sunday, ending nearly two years of crewed operations. This comes just days after the company announced it was ending its hiatus.
CAS Space said its vehicles will have a tourist cabin with four panoramic windows and the ability to carry seven passengers per flight. The company plans to launch every 100 hours from its newly built aerospace theme park, and has 10 vehicles to take turns taking tourists to the edge of space.
Tickets will cost between 2 million and 3 million yuan ($415,127) per person per trip, state media said.
Guangzhou-based CAS Space was founded in 2018, and its second largest shareholder is the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China’s largest national research institute.
China’s space exploration program has recently closed the gap with the United States, and after launching the Chang’e 6 mission earlier this month, it could become the first country to bring back samples from the far side of the moon.
The launch drew a large number of tourists to the launch site in China’s Hainan province. Before the launch, tens of thousands of people gathered at various viewing spots near the launch site, causing long traffic jams.
(1 dollar = 7.2267 Chinese Yuan)
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista; Editing by Sonali Paul)
