Wanna join the most exclusive club as of today? How excusive? Well, as of 2013 it includes only 7 members and the number will likely stay small in the next few years. I’m talking space tourism here. $20mil back in 2001 could have bought you a ticket to the ISS for a few days and place in the wikipedia hall of fame.
Home Sweet Home @vipwise
Is $20mil too much for space walk? Well, the most expensive watch in the world costs even more. Also compare this to estimated $1.3bln each space shuttle start costs and you can see how this is a bargain for such a unique opportunity.
Mark Shuttleworth, the space tourist @vipwise
As of March 2013 this program is paused due lack of space workhorses, but Russian space agency plans to resume space tourism program later this year. For now it is the monopoly, so just like all monopolies do they adjusted the price tag for the service to estimated $63mil recently. Expect the price to go down when rivals such as Virgin Galactic will join the game.
Spaceship One Tourism @vipwise
And the final number. There are almost 7bln people on this planet. Only about 600 of them (0.0000086%) have been to the final frontier. That’s what I call exclusive!