The Astronomical Price Of Moon Tourism

If you’ve always dreamed of being an astronaut, you may soon have your chance to hop aboard a rocket to the moon. The bad news is it’s going to cost you.

Tesla Inc TSLA and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has already booked the company’s first two private customers for a trip to the moon. According to Musk, the trip on SpaceX’s Dragon 2 spacecraft is tentatively scheduled for 2018. But if you want to be the next in line for tickets to the moon, you should start saving up now.

Related Link: Under Armour, Tesla Among The Most Notable Stocks For Short Sellers

Out Of This World Cost

According to CBS News’ William Harwood, Musk has said the cost of sending people to the mood would be “similar to what it would take for a private citizen to visit the space station.” Back in 2009, billionaire Charles Simonyi paid $35 million to the Russian Federal Space Agency for a ticket to the space station.

While a $35 million price tag may seem a bit steep, the cost of potential space tourism has actually gotten a lot more affordable over the years and will likely continue to trend in that direction.

The U.S. dumped $25.4 billion into the Apollo space program that put the first man on the moon back in 1969. It today’s dollars, that would be more than $150 billion.

Back in 2005, Space Adventure was selling tickets to the moon for $100 million each.

Moon Express, which plans to land a robot on the moon in 2017, has pledged to sell round-trip tickets to the moon for as little as $10,000 each within the next decade.

The $10,000 price tag provides a bit of hope for space enthusiasts who don’t have $35 million lying around to pay SpaceX. But with the rapid pace of technological advancement and increasing competition in the space tourism industry, trips to space may soon be as commonplace as international airline flights are today.