Where can you go?
Space travel isn't one experience — it's a ladder. Each rung climbs higher, lasts longer, costs more, and asks more of you. Here are the tiers, from a calm balloon ride to the surface of the Moon.
Five rungs off the planet
1 · Near-space by balloon ~30 km
EmergingA pressurised capsule under a stadium-sized balloon rises for a couple of hours to the stratosphere, floats along the black edge of the sky, then descends. No rocket, no g-forces, no training — closer to a luxury cruise than a launch. You'll see the curve of the Earth, but you won't technically reach space.
Best for: the view and the calm, without the intensity. Operators: Eos X Space / Space Perspective.
2 · Suborbital hop ~86–100+ km
Flying / returningThe classic "astronaut for a day." You ride a rocket past the edge of space, unbuckle for a few minutes of true weightlessness, watch the horizon bend against the black, then fall back to Earth. The flight itself lasts minutes; the whole day is training and ceremony around it.
Best for: touching space without a multi-year commitment. Operators: Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin.
3 · Low Earth Orbit ~400–1,400 km
FlyingNow you're actually circling the planet — travelling at roughly 28,000 km/h, seeing a sunrise every 90 minutes, weightless for days at a stretch. A free-flying orbital mission stays in your own capsule; you sleep, eat and float in space without docking anywhere.
Best for: the real orbital experience. Operators: SpaceX (Crew Dragon).
4 · A space station ~420 km
FlyingDock with an orbiting outpost and live aboard it for up to two weeks — conducting experiments, filming, or simply existing in microgravity with room to move. Today that means the ISS via Axiom; soon it will mean purpose-built commercial stations.
Best for: the longest, richest stay in orbit. Operators: Axiom Space (today), private stations (next).
5 · The Moon ~384,000 km
On the horizonThe next frontier for humans. Government programs are leading the return — a crewed lunar flyby has already happened, with a south-pole landing next — while private lunar tourism has been proposed but not yet flown. This is where "space travel" becomes "space exploration" again.
Best for: the history-making few. Programs: NASA Artemis with SpaceX; future commercial concepts.
The private stations replacing the ISS
The International Space Station is expected to retire around 2030–2031. A new generation of commercial outposts is being built to take its place — the first real-estate of the low-Earth-orbit economy.
Aiming to be the first standalone commercial station: a single module for a crew of four, launching on a Falcon 9. Short crewed visits would follow via Crew Dragon.
The only contender already flying missions. Its first module is designed to attach to the ISS, then detach to become an independent station as more modules join.
A "mixed-use business park" from Blue Origin and Sierra Space, built around an inflatable habitat and sized for a crew of up to ten.
A single large rigid module from Voyager Technologies and Airbus, launched in one piece and focused on science, with European Space Agency involvement.
How far is each rung, really?
| Destination | Altitude / distance | Time weightless | Typical trip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balloon near-space | ~30 km | None (gentle) | ~6 hours |
| Suborbital hop | ~86–100+ km | 2–5 minutes | Under 1 hour in flight |
| Low Earth Orbit | ~400–1,400 km | Days, continuous | 3–5 days |
| Space station | ~420 km | Up to 2 weeks | ~14 days |
| The Moon | ~384,000 km | The whole voyage | ~9–10 days (flyby) |
For comparison: a commercial airliner cruises at about 11 km. The suborbital edge of space is roughly eight times higher than that; the ISS, some forty times higher again.
Curious what the ride actually feels like?
G-forces, weightlessness, training, safety — the mechanics of getting from the pad to the black.
How it works ↗