Data from public opinion polls indicate that nearly fifty million people would like to visit space. In fact as many as two million people each year would take the journey beyond the outer limits of Earth’s gravity. The public’s fascination with space travel means the potential development of a space travel tourism industry with revenues that could amount to $10 billion or more every year.
Therefore, it really is not hard to understand the interest in commercial space travel by private business. In fact, more than six companies are working to making commercial space travel a reality. However, the company that is closest to becoming the industry pioneer is Virgin Galactic. The company is a well funded joint venture of Richard Branson, Burt Rutan, and Paul Allen.