Meet the people who spent $300,000 or more to travel to space

Sharon Heigl has waited over 60 years to go suborbital. In the year

But this year, on March 31, she made her heroic appearance aboard New Shepard 4, flying NS-20 as part of the fourth crew of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket program.

“I had to pinch myself that I wasn’t daydreaming,” she told the Post.

“You’re strapped in and you hear the count: ‘Three, two, one… pick it up!’ Then the deafening screeching of the engine and your seat starts to squeal.

“If you lift it slowly, the entire cabin will turn red from the reflections of the burning engines. Slow for a few seconds and then it’s like energy! You start pulling G [forces] And the earth will perish behind you.

Hagel, 73, is the founder of SpaceKids Global, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire children to excel in science and technology. She was joined on the trip by her husband Mark, 74. Like her, he grew up fascinated by the space race, launching Vanguard rockets from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in the mid-’50s. Together, the couple saw the slingshot from Winter Park. , Fla., became the first husband and wife to fly commercial space.

“I have him to thank for pushing me out of my comfort zone,” she added of her mates.

With Bezos’ Blue Origin, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX all engaged in their own Star Wars, space travel is back in fashion – and it’s not just billionaires who can take the ride.

Ron Rossano is a property manager from Muir Beach, California, and already has plans to venture into space twice: with both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin.

“You don’t have to be a first-time astronaut,” the 62-year-old told the Post. “I wonder if, in the next few years, more people will have the opportunity to see Earth from space and perhaps wonder where we are going, both personally and as a planet.

“It’s just as fun to go as I am,” said Rossano, who hosts Galactic Unit SpaceChats, which brings together students from around the world online to talk about space.

When he gets the green light, Rosano will begin a subsonic flight that will take him more than 60 miles into space, crossing the Qarman Line — the internationally recognized boundary when our atmosphere becomes space. Propelling at speeds in excess of 2,200 mph, it can experience up to six times the force of gravity and weightless G-forces.

He also encounters what Hegel called the “black wall of space.” “There is no reflection of the stars. There is no electricity. It’s just black,” she said.

Then there’s the apocalypse — the moment the travelers see the curvature of the Earth, or the so-called “overview effect.”

“Seeing Earth from space is transformative,” Hagel said. “It has such an impact. It’s imprinted on you for life. For me, it was very emotional and very spiritual. Once you see the Earth with your own eyes, you realize that you have a responsibility to make the world a better place.”

Rosano says he’s seen it happen to others: “I’ve been to a lot of initiations and when you see people come back down to earth, you can just see the change it’s made in them.” Even professionals who know all about it and know exactly what to expect seem to struggle to process what has happened to them.

Although powerful, the entire ride on the Blur Origin takes no more than 11 minutes from takeoff to landing at the company’s launch site in West Texas.

And the price is not cheap.

A seat on a female-piloted flight in July 2021 with Bezos and his brother Mark sold for $28 million, although Blue Origin did not disclose the price. A seat on a Virgin Atlantic suborbital cruise starts at around $300,000.

Craig Curran, 64, is a travel agent and future astronaut from Rochester, New York. He founded Deprez Galactic Experiences, the luxury travel agency’s space travel subsidiary, and is now an accredited “Space Agent” with Virgin Galactic.

It offers customers a wide range of space-based experiences, especially for those who have no interest in signing up for a Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic cruise. One of the most popular is “Zero-G”, where passengers take a 90-minute flight in a specially modified Boeing 727 and have the same weightlessness as a sub-orbital rocket ride. The cost? Only $8,200.

In the year In 2011 he got himself aboard a Virgin Galactic ride but is still waiting for the call to get into his space suit and harness. “Hopefully it will be next year or 2024, but it’s worth the wait,” he said. .

In the year As of November 2021, there were more than 700 customers registered with Virgin Galactic and the company expects to have 1,000 people ready to take off when it starts commercial flights later this year.

Like Curran, a growing number of entrepreneurs are looking to capitalize on the new space tourism demand.

David Doughty is the director of Rocket Brakes, which bills itself as “the world’s first dedicated space travel agency.” The company offers a variety of space experiences with up to 10 days of tours to the International Space Station (for a fee upon request).

“The process of offering a luxury private jet or helicopter service is the same as offering space travel,” said Doughty, who has experience in private aviation. “The only difference is the access.”

Rocket Brakes can help arrange insurance for your trip to cover cancellations, delays or mechanical breakdowns.

But there’s no fear of what might happen to those who have stepped up, like Sharon Heigl, and Ron Rossano, who have yet to go.

“We had four or five days of training for Blue Origin, so we were all very comfortable going into it. I thought I might feel nervous, but I didn’t,” Hagel said.

Rosano says that life on Earth is more dangerous than taking to space. “There is risk in everything,” he says. “Driving on the freeway can be more dangerous.”

Increasingly, there are more affordable ways to see the stars. With seven planned spaceports around the world, including one in Arizona’s Grand Canyon, Worldview sells helium-powered balloons into space. Although they lack the G-force and weightlessness of suborbital rocket flight, passengers can climb in a sealed capsule for two hours to an altitude of 100,000 feet – or three times higher than a commercial airliner. Cocktails are also served.

Another company, Space Perspective, plans to send balloons into space in 2024, but like Worldview, it has yet to receive approval from the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).

Still, more than 1,000 people signed up for Worldview, handing over a $500 deposit for a $50,000 trip. Although Ilida Alvarez hates flying, she has a close relationship with her husband, Rafael Landestoy, 39.

“I don’t like the feeling of butterflies in my stomach or the lack of control,” said Alvarez, 46 and a Miami-based FLAG mediator. I thought it might come true.”

For Alvarez, it was the more steady pace of the World View balloon ride that sealed the deal. “Being able to slowly ascend and descend while having an individually tailored first class experience and spend hours taking in the beauty of our planet and space is priceless.

“I have to think it’s going to be a life-changing experience.”

But with the number of options available to future astronauts increasing, according to Craig Curran, the only barrier to how far they can go could be a burst of new galaxy gold.

For example, Axiom Space is currently building the world’s first commercial space station with interiors designed by Philippe Starck.

“I have no doubt that we will live on the moon in the future – there will be space hotels,” Curran said.

“And Elon Musk probably lives on Mars.”