“In some ways it will be more of a work supervisor than a cruise director,” said Mr López-Alegría.
In an interview, Mr. Connor acknowledged that many people question the value of wealthy people who pay millions for trips like this. “I understand people have questions,” he said. “People are criticizing:” Hey, with all the troubles out there, why the hell are these guys spending all this money going into space? ” ”
But he replied that Kids & Community Partners, the charity arm of his company, planned to spend $ 400 million over the next 10 years on programs to help children and to fund medical research. In all, he said he will eventually donate half of his net worth to charity. And about 30 percent of its assets go to what the company calls ‘key associates’.
“Only 20 percent stay in my family,” said Mr. Connor. “So I guess I was just hoping that if people criticize or malign me for doing this, at least they would have the context of what I believe.”
Space Adventures announced last year that it also had an agreement with SpaceX to launch a Crew Dragon to take tourists on a journey in orbit, but it has not provided more details on when that mission might start. It has also resumed sales of tourist travel to the space station on Russian Soyuz rockets. Two customers will launch on a flight later this year.
Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese fashion entrepreneur, has also signed up for a SpaceX tourist trip, but that would be a trip around the moon in a few years, on a giant rocket called Starship still under development.
Those who cannot afford an orbital trip will soon have cheaper options, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars price range, for short up-and-down forays to the edge of space and back, where they can experience weightlessness for a few minutes.