The Chinese travel platform Trip.com has added to its luxury catalogue a six-day package with a Virgin Galactic suborbital flight for 5,1 million yuan — around 760 thousand dollars. This is not merely an expensive excursion but a signal: space tourism is ceasing to be an exclusively closed club of billionaires and is becoming a commodity that can be booked through a familiar service.
The package includes four days of preparation at Virgin Galactic's base in Las Cruces, New Mexico: a centrifuge, parabolic flights, g-force training and emergency procedures. On the fifth day — a 90-minute flight aboard the new Delta-class ship, several minutes of weightlessness and a view of Earth through 17 windows. The price includes training, accommodation, meals, a suit and commemorative materials; international flights, a visa and insurance are paid for separately.
Virgin Galactic resumed selling seats in April 2026 at 750 thousand dollars per seat, and the first batch of 50 tickets quickly sold out. The Trip.com platform acts as an authorised seller in China through the HHtravel brand, and two bookings have already been recorded for 2027. Globally, hundreds of people have shown interest, although actual flights will not begin before February 2027 owing to refinements of the systems.
The arrival of a major travel aggregator in this sphere changes perceptions: space is becoming just another line on the menu of "exclusive adventures". However, the price and health requirements preserve the barrier — it remains the preserve of a very narrow circle. The platform emphasises that the product is positioned not as a "plaything of the rich" but as a "sport for the elite" that demands serious preparation.
For Virgin Galactic, the partnership with Trip.com is a way to expand its audience in Asia, where the number of wealthy travellers is growing. For the passengers themselves, it is a chance to gain the status of commercial astronaut and a badge from the Association of Space Explorers. At the same time, a question remains open: how deeply a person immerses themselves in the experience when the preparation is compressed into a few days and the flight itself lasts an hour and a half.
The inclusion of space flights in ordinary travel platforms reflects a broader trend: the boundaries between terrestrial and extraterrestrial tourism are blurring, but accessibility is still measured not only in money but also in readiness for risk and physical exertion. The first real flights will show whether this becomes the beginning of a mass phenomenon or remains a rare episode.
