China’s chief space contractor readies plans for tourism programme

As companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin make headlines for sending non-astronauts into space on pricey private tours, a Chinese state firm is expected to unveil its own space tourism programme this week, joining other domestic enterprises as they attempt to make headway in the rapidly emerging – and US-dominated – market.\nChina Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), the primary contractor for the country's space programme, will unveil details of its inaugural tour at the China Hi-tech Fair, which opens on Friday in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen.\nAccording to the Securities Times, a state-owned financial newspaper, reusable rockets and spacecraft will catapult passengers to the edge of the atmosphere, with each paying a hefty fee for the out-of-this-world experience; ticket prices have been estimated to start at 1 million yuan (US$140,534).\nThe trip will bring tourists about 100km (62 miles) above sea level – passing the internationally recognised boundary of outer space known as the Karman line – allowing them to feel weightlessness and view the Earth.\nCASC did not immediately reply to an inquiry from the Post for comment.\nChina has sped up the pace of its rocket and satellite launches this year, sending off four this week alone, with the value of its commercial space activities projected to hit 2.5 trillion yuan (US$351.3 billion) in 2025, Securities Times reported on Wednesday.\nAs the country plays catch-up with the more developed space programmes of the US and Russia, its aerospace operators are doing the same with the largely American firms that have sent wealthy individuals well beyond the Karman line.\n\n\nSpaceX and Blue Origin, respectively founded by billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, have already chartered more than a dozen suborbital and low-orbit flights. A SpaceX crew completed the first commercial spacewalk in 2024, and the company has sent tourists to the International Space Station since 2022.\nBased on the projected costs, however, the trips offered by CASC appear likely to be a great deal cheaper than what the American firms charge. Prices for SpaceX and Blue Origin flights vary and are not made public, but estimates run as high as US$55 million per person for a multi-day low-orbit tour.\nThe Chinese state company will also face competition from domestic rivals. In October 2024, the private firm Deep Blue Aerospace announced it had already sold two tickets – at 1.5 million yuan each – for seats on a suborbital rocket ride scheduled for 2027.\nDeep Blue said its first passengers would experience a combined 12 minutes of ascent and weightlessness at the edge of space, but dozens of trials would be conducted before that mission launches.\nThis May, a Chinese engineer in his 80s became the oldest prospective passenger for future space rides offered by a Beijing-based private firm, with the first flight slated for 2028.\nAnd in August, the government of Guangdong province announced plans to expand its commercial space sector, pledging support for companies to build satellite constellations and hold tests for space mining and tourism.\nMa Xiaoqi, deputy president of Space Circling, a start-up based in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, said as China’s companies begin their charters, they will be able to compete with their American rivals.\n“The entire commercial space market is pursuing high-reliability, low-cost reusable and high-thrust liquid rocket engines,” Ma said. “For space tourism, more launches by Chinese state-owned and private firms will bring down costs and popularise technologies in a growing ecosystem that is already as vibrant as the one in the US.”\n