Here are all the ways you can get to space without being an astronaut

People have been vacationing in space for 15 years.

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The first non-astronaut to visit the International Space Station was businessman Dennis Tito in 2001, who paid a hefty $20 million ticket price.

But now plenty of companies have sprung up with exciting plans to bring more people to space, for fares as low as $75,000.

But that price should decrease as the space tourism industry matures into a $1 billion market by 2022.

Karen Nyberg ISS view of earth
NASA

So if you are patiently waiting for your turn to see Earth from above, these are the companies that'll take you there.

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There are a few companies that already developing ways to take non-astronauts into orbit, for a price.

spacex, falcon 9 lift off, long exposure
A long exposure photograph shows the SpaceX Falcon 9 lifting off (L) from its launch pad and then returning to a landing zone (R) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, on the launcher's first mission since a June failure, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, December 21, 2015. The rocket carried a payload of eleven satellites owned by Orbcomm, a New Jersey-based communications company. This long exposure photograph was made by covering the lens in between liftoff and landing. REUTERS/Mike Brown Mike Brown/Reuters

But only one has, so far, actually pulled it off: Space Adventures.

Earth from Space
Reuters/Alexander Gerst/NASA
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Founded in 1998 by American entrepreneur Eric C. Anderson, Space Adventures was the first to launch a private citizen into space after it negotiated a seat on a Russian spacecraft headed to the International Space Station (ISS).

Russian soyuz launch
NASA

For a reported $20 million, the company launched businessman Dennis Tito (on the left in the image below) to the International Space Station in 2001, where he stayed for nearly eight days.

Soyuz Dennis Tito
Crew of Soyuz TM-32. (L-R: Tito, Talgat Musabayev, and Yuri Baturin) NASA

Source: BBC

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The company has launched six others to ISS since then, with the Russian space agency's help. It was set to take up singer Sarah Brightman last year, but she postponed her trip due to family reasons. The going rate these days is roughly $50 million.

Karen Nyberg ISS view of earth
Astronaut Karen Nyberg enjoys the view of Earth from the windows in the Cupola of the International Space Station. NASA

Source: The Telegraph

Soon, the company will no longer be reliant on Russia to launch their customers into space. In 2014, Boeing got the green-light from NASA to take paying Space Adventures' customers to ISS on its "space taxi."

Boeing CST-100
Boeing

Source: NBC News

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Astronauts — and possibly, private citizens — may also be flying in the Dragon capsule from SpaceX. The Elon Musk-led company made history in 2012 when it was the first private company to deliver cargo to the ISS, and return cargo to Earth.

spacex dragon screens2
SpaceX

So far, the Dragon has only delivered cargo, but it should soon be flying crew. The company says its first manned test flight should take place in two to three years.

Though it hasn't advertised so-called "space tourism" flights like others, its Dragon capsule would be an ideal vehicle. The company's overarching goal is to put an "average person" on Mars in the 2020s, for a price tag of $500,000.

Meanwhile, Space Adventures offers other add-on "experiences" to your ISS trip on its website like spacewalks — though no private citizens have done them yet.

Astronaut Spacewalk
Twitter/astro_luca
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And the company is currently planning a mission that will take two private citizens and a Russian cosmonaut around the moon and back, expected to take place by 2018.

Space Adventures moon mission
Space Adventures

Source: Space Adventures

Two people have already plopped down $150 million each for a seat. “We’re talking to the Russians about a series of missions, not just a one-off,” Space Adventures President Tom Shelley told DNews.

view of Earth from Moon
Bloomsbury Auctions

Source: DNews.

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The company also announced plans for suborbital flights — shorter trips that go up and back down instead of orbiting the Earth.

Space Adventures suborbital flight
Space Adventures

Space Adventures is currently working with Armadillo Aerospace on a spacecraft, which it says will take two people to the edge of space, experience weightlessness for a few minutes, then bring them back down. The ticket cost will be around $100,000.

That price would be a fair bit cheaper than the cost of Virgin Galactic's planned suborbital trips — which would shuttle passengers to the edge of space for about $250,000.

virgin galactic spaceshiptwo
Virgin Galactic

Source: Virgin Galactic

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Unlike Space Adventures, though, Virgin has already conducted numerous tests with its SpaceShipTwo craft, though it suffered a tragic setback after the ship broke up during its last test flight in 2014, killing the co-pilot and seriously injuring the pilot.

Sheriffs' deputies look at wreckage from the crash of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo near a broken down house near Cantil, California November 2, 2014. REUTERS/David McNew
Sheriffs' deputies look at wreckage from the crash of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo near a broken down house near Cantil, California Thomson Reuters

Source: Virgin Galactic/Space.com

Virgin is still building its second SpaceShipTwo craft, which should be unveiled in February. It will have six passenger seats onboard.

Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic's new spaceship N202VG, which the company began building 2 and a half years ago, is seen in a hangar at Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California November 4, 2014. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Source: Mashable

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About 700 people have already signed up for Virgin flights — which will offer several minutes of weightlessness — given the company can get past the testing phase.

Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo
The first SpaceShipTwo during a glide flight over the Mojave desert. Virgin Galactic

Source: Virgin Galactic

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One company offering serious promise is Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, which launched and landed its reusable New Shepard space vehicle in November.

blue origin capsule simulation
Artist's concept. Blue Origin/YouTube

Once out of the test phase, the company plans to offer the "astronaut experience" — launching six people in its capsule up above 328,000 feet.

It hasn't yet offered pricing information or the ability for people to make reservations.

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The company is also developing its first orbital vehicle, powered by its larger BE-4 engine. That engine won't be ready for service until 2017.

blue origin launch
Blue Origin

Source: Blue Origin/SpaceNews

Another company, called XCOR Space Expeditions, is also working on a suborbital spacecraft called Lynx that will takeoff and land like an airplane.

xcor lynx new ascent
XCOR

The company says it will give clients six minutes of weightlessness in space, and its maiden test launch may happen this year. The current rate for one seat right next to the pilot is $150,000.

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If you're looking for a little bit slower of an ascent to suborbital space, Barcelona-based zero2infinity wants to launch people in its "bloon," a balloon-lifted pod made to carry people 22 miles above Earth.

bloon craft
Wikimedia Commons

It plans to charge about $125,000 for a seat in its capsule, which would carry four passengers and two crew on about a four-hour trip.

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"Listen to your mp3s, have dinner, sip your favorite drink, or join the mile high club," the company says in its brochure. "It's calm, it's quiet, it's private. It's bloon."

bloon pod
zero2infinity

Zero2Infinity has conducted numerous unmanned tests so far, though it is still behind schedule (it said the first human flight was expected in 2014).

It now says flights with paying customers could start this year or 2017 at the latest.

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An Arizona-based company called World View is also working on a similar concept, planning to charge $75,000 a seat.

World View
World View Voyagers will be transported to the edge of space via a luxuriously styled pressurized space capsule. World View

Source: Tech Insider

In addition to the stunning view, the company says it will offer free cocktails and WiFi, in case you absolutely cannot wait to share that space selfie on Instagram.

World View
World View will have Voyagers gliding peacefully along the edge of space for a two hour sailing like experience. World View
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But if you don't care all that much about the view from space, you can always settle for the zero-gravity feeling for relatively cheap.

nasa astronaut floating space earth 2x1
NASA

A number of companies will take you up in an airplane that flies up and down in steep dives — simulating the feeling of weightlessness for 20 to 30 seconds at a time.

zero G
Wikimedia Commons
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The unofficially-named "vomit comet" costs around $5000 from the Zero Gravity Corporation, which is owned by Space Adventures.

richard branson vomit comet zero G
Steve Boxall and Zero Gravity Corporation via Virgin

Source: Zero G

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