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Space tourism has been around since 2001, although it has been limited to only the richest people. The first tourist flew into space on board a Russian spacecraft. He payed $25 million for his ticket.

Flying into space is dangerous and expensive, but one company will be flying tourists into space from 2008. Here are some details:

the spacecraft will reach a speed of 4000 km an hour
tourists will spend 5 minutes in space
the cost of a ticket will be $200 000
by 2015 it is expected that the cost of a ticket will fall to only $25 000 for a two-and-a-half hour trip into space
virtually no pollution will be given off by the spacecraft, although a single flight will use as much energy as it takes to power the whole of Sydney for a month.

The futuristic drawing shows a transport line in tunnels in the foreground beside a multi-level domed building. The building is connected by surface tunnels to another lower building on the right, smaller dome directly behind and a cluster of small domes around a larger one on the left. A tall narrow tower with a wide disc near the top also connects on the left. A group of three flat buildings is in the background, with another larger one to the left. An aircraft approaches from the right.

Spaceports will replace airports in our future world.

There are also plans for a hotel in space. It is predicted that within the next 20 years it will be possible to fly into space from Sydney and then re-enter the atmosphere over London less than an hour later. It presently takes over 20 hours to fly between these cities.