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Recently there's been news about a company who will be offering balloon rides to the stratosphere for $125,000 (USD). Blue Origin hasn't announced the ticket prices for their flights yet, but the first passenger ticket auctioned off at $28 million, so the consumer price will presumably be similarly expensive.

Going to space sound great, but those prices are not attainable for the average traveler. However, I'd still be interested to know how close I actually can get to space on a tourist ticket. What's the highest I can fly for tickets less than $1,000 USD? How about less than $10,000?

David K
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    Most commercial flights have a hight limit around 40-42k feet. Smaller private jets, like corporate jets, can reach 51,000 feet. But both are way for from the edge of space. For those prices, your best bet would be joining the Air Force and then maybe attempt either high altitude flight or to become an astronaut. – Mr_Bober Jun 28 '21 at 15:34
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    For $1000 I doubt you're getting anything beyond an ordinary commercial airline flight. But some types of airliners do consistently fly a bit higher than others; for instance I think the 737-700 often hits 41,000 ft on US domestic flights which other narrowbodies usually don't. – Nate Eldredge Jun 28 '21 at 16:59
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    -> Can tourists go higher than 22km? If so, what's the highest they can go? – Franck Dernoncourt Jun 28 '21 at 21:10
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    You can go up the CN Tower for $25. That gets you nearly .6% of the way into space and you can have a coffee when you get there. – Valorum Jun 28 '21 at 23:13
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    Do you want to come back? this proposal (https://phys.org/news/2010-01-space-cannon-payloads-orbit-video.html) estimated $250 per pound to go to orbit :) – Thomas Jun 28 '21 at 23:56
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    For a different type of "space" experience, zero-G flights are available for around $5K USD. They don't go any higher than a typical airline flight, but you get a minute or two of feeling weightless (15 seconds at a time). – Nate Barbettini Jun 29 '21 at 02:24
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    Set the money you could spend on it right now aside and invest it long term. Do this regularly. When actual tourist space flights become available, you will be able to afford it sooner that way (or you decide to spend it on something else) – stefan Jun 29 '21 at 07:10
  • I heard you could reach space by going on some mountains, though I think it's not exactly what you're looking for. – Clockwork Jun 29 '21 at 08:38
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    @Valorum Well, seeing as how the base of CN tower is hardly above the elevation of lake Ontario which is only 74m above sea level, you could easily exceed its height in many places by just standing on the ground. For instance, you could go to the top of Pikes Peak for free to an elevation of 4302m and be over six times closer to space than the observation deck of CN tower. – Glen Yates Jun 29 '21 at 13:42
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    @GlenYates - Yes, but in both instances you'd need to bring your own coffee – Valorum Jun 29 '21 at 14:15
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    The current lawnchair larry record is around 25k feet. There's nothing stopping you from attempting higher. Though it will probably cost you a bit more than that once the FAA or similar agency fines you for doing it. – rtaft Jun 29 '21 at 14:19
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    @Valorum Unfortunately the CN tower admission fee is now more like $50, which immediately halves your effect:cost ratio – llama Jun 29 '21 at 16:37
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    @Valorum Pikes Peak is popular enough, maybe you can buy coffee off a fellow hiker/climber for much less than the price to get up the CN tower. – gerrit Jun 30 '21 at 09:29
  • @gerrit $50! If I was anywhere near I'd carry a stove and moka pot up Pike's Peak for half that. – Chris H - UK Jun 30 '21 at 14:56
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    @ChrisH-UK I think we may have just reinvented what in the German-speaking Alps is known as a Bergrestaurant or Berggasthaus, which seem to be very lucrative indeed :) – gerrit Jun 30 '21 at 16:17
  • @GlenYates - I can sit out on my patio with a cup of coffee and be well above the CN tower, but a bit less than half way up Pikes Peak. No idea what the cog railway up Pikes Peak costs anymore, but it was a fun ride. – Jon Custer Jun 30 '21 at 22:23
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    @Valorum Go to the top of Snowdon instead, the highest point in Wales. It’s a bit over 1,000 metres, and there’s a cafe at the summit so you can get your coffee. – Mike Scott Jul 01 '21 at 07:23
  • @gerrit given what I paid for cold drinks (several of them) at the top of the Col d'Izoard after riding up, it would seem like a good business to be in – Chris H - UK Jul 01 '21 at 12:35
  • Do you have to be alive? It looks like an amateur sounding rocket could get pretty close to space for a few thousand US dollars. Unfortunately it would be unable to carry a living person - but definitely could handle cremains. – David Rouse Jul 01 '21 at 19:29

2 Answers2

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While not under your $10k limit, I'd nominate the Edge of Space Jet Flight in Russia which advertises that for €17500 you get:

Probably the mightiest experience in the world: The Edge of Space flight in the MiG-29 Fulcrum. Depending on weather and temperature conditions, you can reach up to 20-22km altitude, though at least 17km is guaranteed. Only astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS will fly higher at this point.

You can clearly see the curvature of the earth. The atmosphere looks like a blue fog, covering the earth far below. Above you, the sky turns very dark, sprinkled with innumerous stars. An incredible view which only a few people were able to enjoy so far!

However they say that this flight is currently not available and that there is a waiting list.

Peter M
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    Unit conversion: 20-22 km is 65,600-72,200 feet; 17 km is 55,800 feet. – Tanner Swett Jun 29 '21 at 10:33
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    And for scale, the Kármán line is at 100 km ≈ 330,000 feet. – gidds Jun 29 '21 at 16:00
  • TBH, both FL72 and FL330 are still not that high above the earth. The view at both altitudes is closer to an airliner than the Apollo 11 earthrise photos people think of as "space".

    (The idea of having an altitude at which space starts was initially motivated by the US [mostly] wanting to establish that an orbiting satellite was not violating the territory of the countries it passed over).

     – Rich Jul 03 '21 at 03:18
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Virgin Galactic received approval to carry passengers from the FAA recently, although they are probably some way away from selling tickets.

For a long time the highest-altitude relatively mainstream option was the Concorde, which cruised at around 56,000 ft/17.1 km on transatlantic flights; the vast majority of conventional aircraft fly transatlantic between about 29,000 and 41,000 ft for comparison. This is rather considerably short of outer space, conventionally defined as 100 km (328,084 ft), but high enough for the sky to darken and to see the curvature of the earth.

The Concorde was forced into retirement in 2003, but various large business jets like the Citation X+ and LearJet 75 are advertised with a maximum altitude of 51,000 ft, and the view from 50,000 ft is still pretty cool. They don't normally operate at this altitude of course, so it would take some legwork to charter, but it's something definitely in the realm of possibility for a resourceful person in an advanced economy.

choster
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    I guess you probably can't charter a business jet that would get that high for $10,000. But it was possible for a while to fly the Concorde for next to nothing. In the 1990s, US Airways had a partnership with British Airways, and you could redeem a round trip on the Concorde for only 125,000 Dividend Miles. I remember this distinctly because I got into a heated argument with my roommate at the time, who had just spent 50,000 miles for a round trip from Washington DC to Miami. – choster Jun 28 '21 at 15:16
  • Ticket prices on Virgin Galactic are currently being estimated at around $250k – Peter M Jun 28 '21 at 15:22
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    I hadn't realized that some biz jets could also hit 51k feet. Looking at the CiriationX+ I'm seeing charter costs at around $7K per hour and that one article I read said it can hit 41k feet in 23 minutes. So 2 hours of charter would be a lot cheaper than my answer. But you don't get the acrobatics! – Peter M Jun 28 '21 at 15:32
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    You're an order of magnitude off in your definition of "space" - it's widely understood to be 100km, not 1000 (by your own link). – throx Jun 28 '21 at 23:47
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    @throx Thanks, fixed. Ironically I originally had the customary measure correct, but then changed it to conform to the typo in the metric value. – choster Jun 28 '21 at 23:53
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    Who wants to organize a group? The Citation X+ can take up to a dozen people chartering one for a few hours to get that high can't be more than a few ten thousand dollars so it'd be a few thousand dollars per person. My email is chx1975 gmail com HMU if you are doing this, I am totally in. –  Jun 30 '21 at 07:22
  • You mighr want to add that back when they were selling tickets, the Virgin Galactic price tag was $250,000/pax, and the waitlist is currently closed. – lambshaanxy Jul 05 '21 at 07:08