Elon Musk Expects SpaceX to Spend Around $2 Billion on Starship Rocket This Year
Wall Street JournalAPR 2023
This is the beginning of not only privatized space tourism but the creation of space stations other than the ISS. Axiom plans to connect its own modules to the ISS by 2025 and then detach them to create a completely separate outer space laboratory. This flight has also shown the potential for space exploration companies to bring countries together and provide access to space travel to previously excluded groups.
Space tourism is a rich man's game, and it will remain that way for a long time. Even the shorter and much quicker trips, like Virgin Galactic owner Richard Branson's flight into orbit, cost $250K. As for spending time on the ISS, that has and will continue to cost tens of millions of dollars. Space ventures continue to be a pet project of the wealthy.