It is predicted that this year will bring the first commercial flights into space, and with them, those space tourists will also be purchasing travel insurance to provide them with additional coverage for their trips.
Among the leading space tourism companies is Virgin Galactic, which is offering coverage directly through its website, though these travelers can also speak with their travel agents if they want to obtain the coverage they need, just as they would for any other type of traditional vacation.
Though the ultra-wealthy have already been taking space flights aboard a Russian rocket to the International Space Station (at a hefty price of tens of millions of dollars per trip), Virgin Galactic’s trips are being offered at a much more “affordable” rate of $200,000 per seat.
The experience includes a trip aboard a rocket ship which will travel just beyond the barrier into space and will feature a full five minutes of feeling weightless. The entire trip takes about two and a half hours.
Virgin Galactic isn’t the only one in this market, though, as two other specialty airlines are also taking their first steps into space tourism, including accepting deposits for reservations for flights into space.
The major insurance company, Allianz, has announced its intentions to offer a space travel insurance product this year. According to one of 58 of Virgin Galactic’s accredited space agents in the U.S., and the president of Saratoga, California-based Alpine Travel, Lynda Turley Garrett, “Just to be able to sell space travel as a regular part of your business, really, just how cool is that?”
Space travel coverage will include a number of different potential issues, such as medical issues before or after travel, and last minute cancellations.