"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space."
~ Douglas Adams
Space tourism is space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. Orbital space tourism opportunities are limited and expensive, with only the Russian Space Agency providing transport. The price for a flight brokered by Space Adventures to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft was US$ 20–35 million. Some space tourists haved signed contracts with third parties to conduct certain research while in orbit.
A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, hoping to create a space tourism industry.
As an alternative to "tourism," some organizations such as the Commercial Spaceflight Federation use the term "personal spaceflight."
