When man gained the capability to enter space and land on the moon, the possibility of commercial space travel was also created.  While a reality of space shuttles transporting passengers as seamlessly as airplanes is still far off, the first steps have been taking with the emergence of the space tourism industry.

On this day, April 28th, in 2001, the space tourism industry begins as Dennis Tito becomes the world’s first “space tourist.” Tito, a successful business man and scientist, made a deal with MirCorp and Space Adventures, Ltd. to visit the International Space Station for $20 million.  Tito’s visit lasted from April 28- May 6.

Since Tito’s journey in 2001, Space Adventures has had six additional space tourists pay between $20 million to $35 million to participate in their orbital space flight program.  There have not been any orbital space passengers since 2009, but Space Adventures and the Russian Federal Space Agency have announced the program will resume in 2013.  Currently, sub-orbital space flight is a much more affordable and active industry.  Rocketship Tours, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Armadillo Aerospace and XCOR Aerospace are among the emerging sub-orbital spaceflight companies.