The space tourism dream is inching closer to reality – and China is at the forefront

Space travel is back in the headlines, with news that two Chinese buyers have snapped up the country’s first ever commercial space flight tickets – each paying the princely sum of 1,000,000 yuan (around £108,000).

The company behind the voyages, Deep Blue Aerospace, is one of a small number of Chinese firms looking to make space tourism a reality. While its rocket is still in development, it says it intends to send passengers into orbit within three years.

The very concept of seeing the Earth from above seems to rouse our imaginations and curiosity like no other. But after 20 years of titillation on space tourism, is the whole thing still just a preserve of the billionaire class? And are we really any closer to making it a commercial…