At some point in our lives, we look up at the stars and dream of seeing the world from a different perspective or visiting another planet.
Which is why millions of people immerse themselves in science fiction novels and movies for the chance to experience something out of this world.
Before 1969, space was thought to be the final frontier, as so famously said at the beginning of each Star Trek episode.
When the first man landed on the moon, everything changed.
Space became a door of infinite possibilities, which meant humankind had a lot of work ahead of them.
And we have been working hard.
For those who have dreamed about being an astronaut or seeing Earth from this blanket of darkness above us, next year may be your chance.
The advancement of technology has allowed for the creation of commercial space travel, thanks to space transportation services like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin.
Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, who owns Blue Origin's New Shepard space vehicle, is much more ambitious when it comes to letting regular people travel in space.
"We plan to start flying our first test passengers soon," Blue Origin Senior Vice President Rob Meyerson said in June at a Amazon Web Services Public Sector Summit.
According to a Reuters article from July, sources say that Bezos plans to charge regular folk between $200,000 to $300,000 for space rides.
However, that's all speculation. Bezos has previously said that ticket prices have not been decided, but I would imagine that they wouldn't be cheap.
So what does this space flight offer?
I'm glad you asked. The New Shepard is designed to fly six passengers more than 62 miles above Earth.
At this altitude, you'll be able to see the curvature of the planet and experience a few minutes of weightlessness.
After that awesome experience, the pressurized capsule will return to Earth with the help of parachutes.
For a price tag like this, you might expect some extravagant amenities that would make any first class airline passenger jealous.
From the looks of Blue Origin's YouTube video, this adventure of a lifetime has limited amenities.
This makes sense because the whole trip is set to reportedly last under an hour.
"When you get to space, the capsule and the rocket break apart, and the people float inside for four minutes," The Verge's science reporter Loren Grush said on an episode of the podcast Too Embarrassed to Ask.
"So, you can have that moment of "˜A) I'm in space; B) I'm floating; and C) I can see the curvature of the Earth,' which only a couple hundred people have done. And then the capsule and rocket come back down in separate pieces."
This news is undeniably exciting, but traveling in space comes with a lot of risks.
That being said, that isn't stopping people from purchasing early bird tickets.
Billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceship has reportedly sold 650 tickets, charging $250,000 per ticket.
Once commercial space exploration is a possibility, who knows what will come next. The future is quite exciting when you really think about it!
[H/T: Simplemost / Reuters / Recode]
