China has just caught up with the United States in the space adventure

The first Chinese space tourism company took a small step towards commercial reality last week when it sold the first tickets for its rocket to space. SpaceX and Blue Origin already have a rival on the other side of the world.

Deep Blue Aerospace used a live broadcast on the Chinese e-commerce site Taobao to sell two seats on its first suborbital flights for only 1,000,000 yen ($140,000), a great discount, given that future flights are expected to cost 1,500,000 yen ($210,000) per seat.

The discount is understandable, as the flight is not expected to take off for about three years. It’s worth arriving early when you can save so much money.

China’s Deep Blue Aerospace reveals suborbital tourism plans https://t.co/bP4hGPk6kt pic.twitter.com/zrROxQXB8b

— SpaceNews (@SpaceNews_Inc) October 24, 2024

The cheapest flight is Chinese, as it could not be otherwise

By way of comparison, the Japanese company Iwaya Giken will take passengers to space for $180,000, Virgin Galactic charges $450,000 and it is rumored that Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos, asks for more than $200,000.

The live broadcast was the first time that space tourism tickets were put on sale in China and it attracted three million viewers.

The space company boasted that the tickets were sold out… which doesn’t seem really difficult, as only two tickets were put on sale.

China’s first outer space travel announced at $210,000 for 12 minute flighthttps://t.co/KK1vlJlLsG

— Interesting Engineering (@IntEngineering) October 26, 2024

The two lucky anonymous buyers of this approximately 12-minute trip “will experience the vastness and mystery of the universe” in “a multisensory and comprehensive space journey” that Deep Blue Aerospace describes as unforgettable.

That journey will take them and up to four other passengers beyond the Kármán line, the altitude of 100 kilometers commonly recognized as the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, where they will experience weightlessness for about five minutes.

The spacecraft intended to transport passengers is called Nebula-1. The rocket, powered by kerosene and oxygen, will launch a 7.9-ton capsule named Rocketaholic, which offers passengers the opportunity to look out through six windows.

According to state media, the rocket, China’s first reusable launcher similar to SpaceX’s rocket, can be used up to 50 times.

The two ticket holders will pay an initial deposit of 50,000 yen ($7,000). They will also sign a confidentiality agreement and, interestingly, promise not to throw their trash into space.