Suborbital space tour listed on Trip.com for $973,000

BEIJING – Chinese travel group Trip.com has listed a 5.1 million yuan (S$973,000) suborbital space tourism package on its platform, marking a direct effort by Western commercial space operators to tap high-net-worth travellers in China.The six-day luxury itinerary, which was revealed in mid-September, is offered through HHtravel, Trip.com’s high-end customised tour subsidiary, in partnership with spaceflight company Virgin Galactic, which is headquartered in the United States.In the package, clients will undergo three days of preflight training at Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico. On the fifth day, passengers board Virgin Galactic’s air-launched spacecraft for a 90-minute suborbital flight, experiencing several minutes of weightlessness and views of the curvature of the Earth.The package price covers preflight training, ground transport, luxury accommodation in the US, custom spacesuits and commemorative flight footage. However, travellers must separately purchase round-trip flights to the US, specialised personal spaceflight insurance and their visas.The listing has generated robust discussion across Chinese social media regarding high-end consumer spending and spaceflight safety, though industry analysts stress the actual addressable market remains extremely restricted.“The product serves a very niche global segment,” said Wei Changren, founder of tourism financial news platform btiii.com, noting that buyers require exceptional physical health, high risk tolerance and substantial liquid wealth.Li Xing, a Beijing-based extreme sports enthusiast, said that while the package offers a rare adventure for ordinary citizens without formal astronaut training, the price remains prohibitive for most consumers.“If I were rich enough, I would register for the trip, but it’s much too expensive for me,” he said.Wei said the prospect of affordable space tourism could arise in the future. “China has matured its rocket launch technology and space exploration in recent decades,” he said.Earlier in 2026, Beijing-based technology start-up InterstellOr, which focuses on commercial manned spacecraft research, announced it will launch a suborbital space trip around 2028.Chen Xu, a senior manager from InterstellOr, told Xinhua News Agency in a recent interview that the requirements for passengers for suborbital tours are not as strict as those for professionally trained astronauts.“The passengers should not have risks of cardiovascular diseases or movement disorders, while having regular vestibular and circulatory functions,” Chen told Xinhua, adding that preflight training for such suborbital tours is to develop qualified space travelers rather than a “knockout competition”.In 2025, the China National Space Administration unveiled a three-year action plan encouraging high-quality and safe development of the commercial space industry, including space resource utilisation and space tourism.Virgin Galactic made its first commercial suborbital spaceflight on June 29, 2023, and has since carried 23 paying customers. CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK