Virgin Galactic, Branson's bet that relatively low-cost space tourism will be available--and popular--in the near future.
And despite all the hype around space tourism these days, no one wanted a rocket ship.
The Space Tourism Society and Moonandback Travel can help you book your space tourism itinerary.
Eric Anderson, who co-founded the space tourism firm Space Adventures, said he was used to sceptics.
Sir Richard Branson is also expected to give an update on his Virgin Galactic space tourism plans.
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Among them are Xcor Aerospace Inc, which hopes to join Virgin Galactic in the space tourism business.
He sees his trip as just the latest step forward in the emerging industry of private space tourism.
"I think Bigelow could be the sleeper success of space tourism, " says Whitesides.
Ironically, at a moment of such excitement for space tourism, time is now running out for the necessary legislation.
Many forecasters, though, think that most of the near-term growth in space launches will come from another source: space tourism.
Of course, a handful of wealthy adventurers do not make a market--and even those involved agree that space tourism isn't ready for the mainstream.
The Isle of Man is the headquarters for 12 space firms which are involved in work such as developing space tourism technology and satellite communications.
NASA, have suggested that space tourism is potentially a multi-billion-dollar market.
Virgin Chief Executive Richard Branson is using his fame, and money, to build a space tourism business using spacecraft to be built by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites.
Tuesday's announcement comes nine months after the unveiling of a similar project by Planetary Resources, a company led by space tourism pioneers Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis.
Technology proceeds at such a breakneck pace that sometimes it feels like we're rocketing into science fiction territory: Animal cloning, unmanned aircraft and space tourism are all recent realities.
"The reality is that space tourism is just not cost-effective right now--it's a limited market, and it's fraught with risk, " says aerospace-industry analyst Howard Rubel of Jefferies and Co.
This probably depends on whether Mr Allen shows interest in Scaled Composites' business plan for space tourism, which it intends to put together by the end of the year.
There are now at least a dozen space tourism endeavors worldwide, offering experiences that range from a flight to the fringe of space to astronaut training on a tropical island.
Meanwhile, Sherwood sees the space tourism industry growing up around resort hotels in earth orbit, which would be initially marketed to high rollers able to spend a week in space.
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Foster is the founder of the London-based Foster and Partners architecture company which has recently won a competition to build Virgin Galactic's New Mexico Spaceport Authority Building for space tourism.
But the design that is best to win that prize is not necessarily the best design to operate as a commercial vehicle for space tourism, where having low recurring costs is more vital.
U.K.-based airline Virgin Atlantic has announced that any of its 700 pilots can now apply to fly passengers on SpaceShipTwo, the flagship craft for the world's first sub-orbital space tourism venture, Virgin Galactic .
The offshoot of billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways in December unveiled the first commercial passenger spaceship, a sleek black-and-white vessel that represents an expensive gamble on creating a commercial space tourism industry.
The company, known as Planetary Resources, is also backed by space tourism pioneer Eric Anderson, X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis, Ross Perot Jr, son of the former US presidential candidate, and veteran astronaut Tom Jones.
"My gut tells me that the additional flying we may do on this airplane before it goes to the Air and Space Museum should be focused on developing the very best space tourism vehicle, " Rutan said.
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It should be noted also that the agencies, their industrial partners and a number of "space tourism" advocates have all previously thought about repeating the Apollo 8 Moon mission, if only to do one simple loop around the back.
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