Science, Space Tourism | featured news

Virgin Galactic is one flight closer to becoming a commercial "spaceline." The company's passenger spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo, completed its first rocket-powered flight Monday morning above the Mojave Desert in California.

Millionaire spaceflier Dennis Tito has worked out a plan to send two astronauts to Mars and back without stopping — but the 501-day flight plan won’t work unless it launches in 2018.

Sarah Brightman, the world's biggest selling soprano, says she has booked a trip to the International Space Station... Brightman, a UNESCO ambassador, said the trip would also serve as a way to promote the U.N. agency's message, in particular by encouraging women's education in the sciences and environmental awareness. She hinted at the possibility of doing a promotional "space concert."

No, it’s not science fiction: for those who have run out of places to go, companies are competing to take amateur astronauts into the heights, and beyond.