An odd definition of space tourism

A press release a few days ago by ZG Aerospace (not to be confused with Zero Gravity Corporation, operators of commercial weightless airplane flights) proclaimed “Three Months to First-Ever Consumer Space Tourism Launch”. Huh? Read on:

ZG Aerospace (formerly ZeroG Aerospace) today announced that payload space is still available for consumers to send small personal items to space this July, when the first-ever commercial rocket is launched at the new Southwest Regional Spaceport in New Mexico. Through the ZG Aerospace website at www.zgspace.com, consumers can finally participate in space exploration on the ZGS-1 unprecedented payload for as little as $49.95.

This is a reference to the upcoming commercial sounding rocket launch by UP Aerospace, which will have enough payload space for carrying small items, like business cards and photos. While that may well be a viable market niche, it’s hard to call something like that “space tourism”.

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