SpaceX IPO Pushes Musk to Trillionaire as Space Stocks Drop

Commercial space travel for private individuals – often dubbed space tourism – has evolved from a sci-fi dream into a nascent industry over the past few decades. The first landmark came in April 2001, when American businessman Dennis Tito paid ~$20 million for a seat on a Russian Soyuz rocket and became the world’s first space tourist, spending seven days aboard the International Space Station britannica.com britannica.com. Tito’s pioneering flight proved that non-professionals could visit orbit – albeit after arduous training and at tremendous expense britannica.com. It opened the door for a handful of ultra-wealthy adventurers in the 2000s: South African Mark Shuttleworth followed in 2002, then American Gregory Olsen in 2005, Iranian-American Anousheh Ansari in 2006, software billionaire Charles Simonyi in 2007 and 2009, game developer Richard Garriott in 2008, and Cirque du Soleil’s founder Guy Laliberté in 2009 britannica.com britannica.com. Each paid tens of millions for trips to the ISS, and after Laliberté’s 2009 flight, this first era of orbital tourism paused for over a decade britannica.com.