Editing Space tourism (section)

=== Successful projects ===
[[File:ISS-02 Soyuz TM-32 Taxi crewmembers in the Zvezda Service Module.jpg|thumb|The first space tourist, [[Dennis Tito]] (left) aboard the ISS]]
[[File:Mark Shuttleworth NASA.jpg|thumb|Space tourist [[Mark Shuttleworth]]]]
At the end of the 1990s, [[MirCorp]], a private venture that was by then in charge of the space station, began seeking potential space tourists to visit ''Mir'' in order to offset some of its maintenance costs. [[Dennis Tito]], an American businessman and former [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory|JPL]] scientist, became their first candidate. When the decision was made to de-orbit ''Mir'', Tito managed to switch his trip to the [[International Space Station]] (ISS) aboard a Russian [[Soyuz (spacecraft)|Soyuz spacecraft]] through a deal between MirCorp and US-based [[Space Adventures]], Ltd. Dennis Tito visited the ISS for seven days in April–May 2001, becoming the world's first "fee-paying" space tourist. Tito paid a reported $20 million for his trip.<ref name="Tito">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1297924.stm |title=Profile: Tito the spaceman |date=April 28, 2001 |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=February 27, 2013 |archive-date=December 17, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217062408/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1297924.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Tito was followed in April 2002 by South African [[Mark Shuttleworth]] ([[Soyuz TM-34]]). In February 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard. After this disaster, space tourism on the Russian [[Soyuz program]] was temporarily put on hold, because [[Soyuz spacecraft|Soyuz vehicles]] became the only available transport to the ISS. After the Shuttle's return to service in July 2005, space tourism was resumed. The third was [[Gregory Olsen]] in October 2005 ([[Soyuz TMA-7]]). In September 2006, an [[Iranian American]] businesswoman named [[Anousheh Ansari]] became the fourth space tourist ([[Soyuz TMA-9]]).<ref name="Anousheh Ansari">{{cite web | url=http://www.anoushehansari.com/about/ | title=About Anousheh Ansari | website=Anousheh Ansari | access-date=April 30, 2013 | archive-date=July 27, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727140038/http://www.anoushehansari.com/about/ | url-status=live }}</ref>) In April 2007, [[Charles Simonyi]], an American businessman of Hungarian descent, joined their ranks ([[Soyuz TMA-10]]). Simonyi became the first repeat space tourist, paying again to fly on [[Soyuz TMA-14]] in March 2009. [[British-American]] [[Richard Garriott]] became the next space tourist in October 2008 aboard [[Soyuz TMA-13]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2008/10/soyuz-tma-13-set-to-launch-trio-to-iss/|title=Soyuz TMA-13 launches trio on journey to the ISS|last=Bergin|first=Chris|work=NASASpaceFlight.com|date=October 11, 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207061444/https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2008/10/soyuz-tma-13-set-to-launch-trio-to-iss/|archive-date=February 7, 2021}}</ref> Canadian [[Guy Laliberté]] visited the ISS in September 2009 aboard [[Soyuz TMA-16]], becoming the last visiting tourist until Japanese nationals [[Yusaku Maezawa]] and [[Yozo Hirano]] aboard [[Soyuz MS-20]] in December 2021. Originally the third member aboard [[Soyuz TMA-18M]] would have been the British singer [[Sarah Brightman]] as a space tourist, but on May 13, 2015, she announced she had withdrawn from training.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-sarahbrightman-idUSKBN0NY2KN20150513|title=Singer Sarah Brightman calls off flight to space station|last=Klotz|first=Irene|work=Reuters|date=May 13, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022105817/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-sarahbrightman-idUSKBN0NY2KN20150513|archive-date=October 22, 2020}}</ref>

Since the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011, Soyuz once again became the only means of accessing the ISS, and so tourism was once again put on hold. On June 7, 2019, NASA announced a plan to open the ISS to space tourism again.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-opens-international-space-station-to-new-commercial-opportunities-private|title=NASA Opens International Space Station to New Commercial Opportunities|last=Northon|first=Karen|date=June 7, 2019|website=NASA|access-date=June 24, 2019|archive-date=October 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001054506/https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-opens-international-space-station-to-new-commercial-opportunities-private/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On September 16, 2021, the [[Inspiration4]] mission launched from the [[Kennedy Space Center]] on a [[SpaceX]] [[Falcon 9]] and spent almost three days in orbit aboard the [[Crew Dragon]] ''[[Crew Dragon Resilience|Resilience]]'', becoming the first all-civilian crew to fly an orbital space mission.<ref>{{cite web |last=Atkinson |first=Ian |title=SpaceX launches Inspiration4, first all-private orbital mission |url=https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/09/spacex-launch-inspiration4/ |website=nasaspaceflight.com |date=September 15, 2021 |access-date=October 7, 2021 |archive-date=September 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916004519/https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/09/spacex-launch-inspiration4/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>.{{cite web |last=Davenport |first=Justin |title=Inspiration4 and all-civilian crew return to Earth with splashdown off Florida coast |url=https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/09/inspiration4-splashdown-florida/ |website=nasapaceflight.com |date=September 18, 2021 |access-date=October 7, 2021 |archive-date=October 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007201340/https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/09/inspiration4-splashdown-florida/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

On September 12, 2024, [[Jared Isaacman]] and [[Sarah Gillis]] performed the first commercial [[Extravehicular activity|spacewalk]] during the ''[[Polaris Dawn]]'' spaceflight operated by [[SpaceX]].<ref>{{cite news |title=First Private Spacewalk in SpaceX Capsule Achieves New Milestone|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/11/science/spacex-polaris-dawn-astronauts-spacewalk.html  |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 12, 2024 |access-date=September 12, 2024}}</ref>

On April 1, 2025, [[Fram2]] became the first [[Human spaceflight|crewed spaceflight]] to enter a [[polar orbit|polar]] [[retrograde orbit]],<ref>{{Cite tweet |first=Jonathan |last=McDowell |author-link=Jonathan McDowell|user=planet4589 |number=1906922678067560513|title=First Space Force orbit data for Fram-2 out , showing it in a 202 x 413 km x 90.01 deg orbit|note=0.01° means it entered Retrograde orbit too}}</ref> launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foust |first=Jeff |date=April 1, 2025 |title=SpaceX launches Fram2 private astronaut mission |url=https://spacenews.com/spacex-launches-fram2-private-astronaut-mission/ |access-date=April 1, 2025 |website=SpaceNews |language=en-US}}</ref>