6 ways you can travel to space

Here is how you can leave planet Earth

If space touring is on your bucket list then you have reason to celebrate. While it may come at a high price, it is now within reach. So sit back and read on for the options available for a buoyant and outer world tour.

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1) Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic has been trying to bring space tourism "to the masses" for over a decade despite obstacles. However, a  "mother ship" was unveiled this month which is to undergo rigorous testing over the next 12 months.



Sir Richard told ITV that "hopefully" they are "nearly at the end of a 10-year programme" to get Virgin Galactic this far. "We will send people to space once pilots have tested the ship time and time and time again," he added.

Although a flight schedule is not yet offered, flights are currently priced at $250,000 per head and promises an ascent to 50,000ft powered by launch craft WhiteKnight2, before a smaller spaceship detaches for the ascent to space.

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2) Go Russia

Go Russia offers flights in supersonic MiG-29 fighter jets which roar to 75,500ft above the Earth's surface; nearly twice the height of any commercial jetliner. Broad views of the planet, as well as a range of aerial acrobatics and loop-the-loops, are a part of a package which costs £14,150 as a one-day flight-only deal, or £14,990 for a five-day break with accommodation.

Flights leave from the Sokol airbase in Nizhny Novgorod – Russia's fifth biggest city.

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3) Zero Gravity Corporation

If you’re more interested in experiencing the weightlessness associated with a space flight, you can experience this at a lower cost.

Among the few companies that offer this experience is, Virginia-based aeronautical specialist Zero Gravity Corporation. The company offers an experience of zero gravity via a series of rapid rises and descents, at an angle of 45 degrees, between 24,000ft and 32,000ft. Participants find themselves "floating” at prices beginning at $4,950 per person.

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4) World View

A balloon flight? A high-tech balloon is used to carry their clients to relatively dizzy heights by Arizona-based aeronauts World View. This special helium-filled device, with its attached passenger capsule, soars to about 106,000ft above the surface of the planet. The balloon takes two hours to reach "cruising" altitude, two hours for widescreen views of the globe's curvature, two hours to descend. A flight, however, is by no means cheap – prices start at $75,000 per person.

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5) Space Adventures

This American rival to Virgin Galactic, based in Virginia, has ambitions as outstanding as Richard Branson's. The group has already started to ferrycivilians into space.

The group has plans for orbital flights, spacewalks, visits to the International Space Station and even a circum-lunar mission – which will fly around the moon and come within close distance (100km) of the great pale satellite. The first of these flights is scheduled  for 2018 – although you will need at least $100m to reserve a seat!

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6) Go to Space Camp

A flight to the US and a trip to Space Camp is far less expensive. There are options for children and adults at the Huntsville, Alabama, institution, with activities including a simulated space walk and the construction and launch of a model rocket. Fees range from $499 to $1,049.

This article originally appeared on Telegraph.