Space tourism may take-off in 2019 It may happen at the end of 2019

The two companies leading the pack in the pursuit of in case of space tourism tell they are just few months away from their first out-of-this-world passenger flights — though neither has set a firm date.

Virgin Galactic, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, and Blue Origin, by Amazon creator Jeff Bezos, are racing to become the first one to finish their tests — with both companies have using radically different technology. Neither Virgin nor Blue Origin’s passengers will find themselves or their passensers orbiting the Earth: instead, their weightless experience will last just few minutes. It’s an offering far different also from the first space tourists, who already travelled to the International Space Station in the 2000s.

Virgin Galacticcan take with six passengers and two pilots aboard its SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity.

Mr. Branson in May said that he hoped to himself to be one of the first passengers of space travel in the next 12 months. About 640 people are the rest of the waiting list, the company said.

Blue Origin, meanwhile, build a system closer to the traditional like rocket: the New Shepard. Six passengers take their place in a “capsule” fixed to the rocket. After launching, it detaches and continues its trajectory toward the sky. During an April 29 test, the capsule travelled it to 66 miles.

Company officials were recently told as saying the first tests with Blue Origin astronauts would happen “at the end of this year.”