Lift Off - Would you pay $50,000 to touch the edge of space?

Would you pay $50,000 to touch the edge of space? Meet the entrepreneurs providing a rarified clientele with a luxurious, once-in-a-lifetime journey.So you want to go to space. To take in the expansive curvature of the Earth glowing miles above the atmosphere, surrounded by pure darkness. To experience the mind-altering overview effect described by astronauts as a transcendent state of awe, staring back at the planet on which you've inhaled your every living breath.

- By Christine Lagorio-Chafkin

So you want to go to space. To take in the expansive curvature of the Earth glowing miles above the atmosphere, surrounded by pure darkness. To experience the mind-altering overview effect described by astronauts as a transcendent state of awe, staring back at the planet on which you've inhaled your every living breath.

But for a civilian, traveling to space is an arduous journey. First, there's the price. The known cost of an 11-minute flight on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket is $1.25 million. Then, of course, there are physical demands. After months of training, you must be able to climb seven flights of stairs in 90 seconds. And liftoff is a shock to the body. The first two minutes are a vertical climb accelerating to more than 2,000 miles per hour, compressing the body with up to 4 g's of force, which former NASA astronaut Wendy Lawrence has described as feeling like somebody just sat down on my chest.

World View´s Explorer capsule, wich can fit eight passengers and two crew members.

After the rockets detach from the capsule, the g-forces suddenly vanish and you begin to feel weightless. On a tourist flight, you have about two minutes to unbuckle and orient your shocked body while trying to take in the incredible view. Then it's fasten-your-seat-belts time, and another physical shockplummeting to the Earth. That's about $625,000 per actual minute of existence in near space, possibly slicked with vomit.