$549,000 for a ticket to space?

Chinese firms play catch-up in space tourism

- Lim Min Zhang China Correspondent

On Jan 22, Chinese space start-up InterstellOr created a buzz on Chinese social media when it announced plans to send tourists to suborbital space in 2028 - at a cost of 3 million yuan (S$549,000) a ticket.

The flight is expected to last about 21/2 hours and reach the Karman line, 100km from earth, that defines where space begins.

More than 20 people have reportedly signed up for the potentially historic mission, including a power grid engineering expert, Mr Li Licheng; the chief marketing officer of Shanghai-based robotics firm AgiBot Qiu Heng; and actor Huang Jingyu.

InterstellOr is the second Chinese company to announce a timeline for manned missions, joining the competition to send the first paying Chinese citizens to space.

In October 2024, Jiangsu Deep Blue Aerospace said it had sold two tickets at 1.5 million yuan each for a suborbital rocket ride scheduled for 2027.

Excitement is growing in China over its commercial space sector, which allows wealthy private citizens, with little to no professional astronaut training, to experience rare views of the earth and brief weightlessness.

There has been a recent national push to catch up with the US, as the geopolitical rivals jockey over technological leadership and international prestige.

The US space tourism industry is far more mature, with launches by SpaceX now taking place on a regular basis, while Blue Origin backed by Amazon's multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos has flown more than 90 people to space since 2021.

SpaceX, founded by billionaire Elon Musk, completed the first commercial spacewalk in 2024, and is seen as the market leader in commercial spaceflights.