The Growing Business of Space Travel

Would you like to get a sun tan on Venus? How about surf on the rings of Saturn? Ok, you may never be able to realistically do these things, but going to space may be closer than you think.

Thanks to data released by the employee of venture capital firm Redpoint, Tomasz Tunguz, space travel is one the fastest-growing areas in the world of venture capital funding. The other: Bitcoin. Just think, people are actively funding businesses that are aimed at sending average people out of earth's atmosphere.

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip2 under rocket power, its first ever since the program began in 2005. The spacecraft was dropped from its "mothership", WhiteKnight2 over the Mojave, CA area, April 29, 2013 at high altitude before firing its hybrid power motor. Virgin Galactic hopes to become the first commercial space venture to bring multiple passengers into space on a regular basis.

NASA no longer holds a monopoly on spaceships and moon landings. Quite the contrary, this revolutionary new type of travel is being privatized by the likes of Richard Branson (Virigin), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Elon Musk (PayPal, SpaceX).

William Shatner's words no longer ring like a taunt in our ears. Space is indeed the final frontier, but now we may be close to conquering it.

Image and video courtesy of Virgin Galactic

TravelRaine MagazineJuly 21, 2015Raine Magazine, Space Travel, Travel