How Much Does It Cost to Send a Person to Space?
Short answer: Virgin Galactic opened a limited tranche of 50 suborbital seats in April 2026 at $750,000 each and closed bookings once it was oversubscribed; it expects commercial service on its new ships to begin in February 2027. Blue Origin has never published a New Shepard seat price (the first seat sold at auction for $28 million in 2021), and in January 2026 it paused New Shepard flights for at least two years. Orbit is a different league: a private seat on SpaceX's Crew Dragon has been reported at about $55 million, and NASA's inspector general (2019) estimated NASA's average at about $55 million per seat on SpaceX's Crew Dragon and about $90 million per seat on Boeing's Starliner.
List and rideshare prices as of 2026-10-11. Figures track the launch cost guide; contract prices vary.
Price by option
| Option | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Suborbital, Virgin Galactic | $750,000 | Price of a limited 50-seat tranche opened in April 2026 and since closed; commercial service on the new ships expected to begin in February 2027 |
| Suborbital, Blue Origin New Shepard | Undisclosed | First-flight seat auctioned for $28M in 2021; flights paused for at least two years from January 2026 |
| Orbital, private mission (Crew Dragon via Axiom) | ~$55M per seat (reported) | Media-reported price; Axiom neither confirmed nor disputed it (2021) |
| NASA commercial crew seat (Crew Dragon) | ~$55M (NASA OIG estimate) | Average per seat under SpaceX's original six-mission contract, four astronauts per flight (2019 estimate); the same report put Boeing Starliner at about $90M per seat |
| Soyuz seat bought by NASA (2006 to 2020) | $21.3M to $86M | Per round trip, by year of purchase (NASA OIG, 2019) |
| Starship passenger flights | Unpriced | SpaceX sells no Starship seats |
The costs that are not on the price list
- Training: short for suborbital flights, months for orbital missions.
- Medical screening, and for orbital flights, insurance that is hard to place.
- Schedule risk: Virgin Galactic's new ships have not yet flown commercially and New Shepard is paused, so a booked seat can wait years.
Frequently asked
How much is a ticket to space with Virgin Galactic?
$750,000 for a limited tranche of 50 seats Virgin Galactic opened in April 2026 and has since closed after it was oversubscribed; in its second-quarter 2026 report it said it expects commercial service on its new ships to begin in February 2027.
How much does it cost to go to the ISS as a private astronaut?
About $55 million per seat has been reported for Axiom Space missions on Crew Dragon; Axiom has neither confirmed nor disputed the figure.
Why is orbit so much more expensive than suborbital?
Orbit means reaching about 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h), the speed of the ISS, and surviving re-entry from it; a suborbital hop needs a small fraction of that energy. The vehicle, the propellant and the risk are all much larger.
Run your own numbers
Mass, orbit, vehicle, insurance: the calculator does the delivered-cost math.
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Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these. Prices change; dates show when each was published or read.
- Virgin Galactic Q4 2025 results: spaceflights priced at $750,000 (Virgin Galactic (SEC Form 8-K exhibit), 2026-03-30)
- Virgin Galactic Q2 2026 report: 50-seat tranche at $750,000 opened April 2026, now closed; commercial service expected February 2027 (Virgin Galactic (SEC Form 10-Q), 2026-08-12)
- Blue Origin pauses New Shepard for at least two years (NPR (WRVO), 2026-01-30)
- Blue Origin auctions New Shepard seat for $28 million (SpaceNews, 2021-06-12)
- Crew Dragon seat reported at about $55M; Axiom would not confirm or dispute (SpacePolicyOnline, 2021-05-10)
- NASA OIG IG-20-005: about $55M per SpaceX seat, about $90M per Boeing seat; Soyuz $21.3M to $86M per round trip (NASA Office of Inspector General, 2019-11-14)
- The ISS travels at 17,500 miles per hour (Armstrong Air & Space Museum (NASA facts), 2026-10-11)
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