No, Branson, Bezos and their crews aren’t the first space tourists in history
While experts say the flights by Branson and Bezos are ushering in a new era of space tourism, the billionaires are not the first space tourists.
Author: Gabe Cohen
Updated: 5:31 PM CDT July 19, 2021
The billionaire space race is heating up. On July 11, entrepreneur Richard Branson flew into space aboard his own Virgin Galactic space plane. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to fly into space on July 20 aboard a ship developed by his company Blue Origin.
Some experts say the launch by Branson and the expected launch by Bezos are the beginning of a new era of space tourism. Many are calling the flights “historic.” But what is the history of space tourism? The VERIFY team dug into it.