The Future of Commercial Space Stations
In the coming years, a private company is set to start assembling a commercial space station in Earth’s orbit. This development marks the closest attempt yet to create a place where paying guests could one day stay and enjoy the view of the planet from above. However, before imagining a luxurious stay with cocktails by a panoramic window, it’s important to adjust expectations.
The project being developed by Axiom Space, a US-based company, involves creating modules that will initially attach to the International Space Station (ISS) before forming a standalone commercial outpost. The first module is expected to launch before 2030, with a fully independent station likely to be operational in the early 2030s. This timeline makes it the most credible path towards what has often been described as a space hotel, though the reality is more complex.
Initially, the station will not function as a leisure destination but rather as a mix of research facility and astronaut accommodation, with a limited number of private missions integrated into its operations. Tourists may be present, but they will be rare, carefully managed, and willing to pay extraordinary sums for the experience.
The early phase of space tourism is not shaping up to resemble a new branch of hospitality. According to Professor Marianna Sigala, director of the International Hotel School at the University of Newcastle, “Space tourism is not driven by the tourism industry. It’s driven by the space industry: research, military, exploration.”
This explains why, despite initial excitement a decade ago, space tourism today feels like an aborted take-off. “When you launch a new product, you have to create hype,” Sigala says.
Throughout 2023 and into mid-2024, Virgin Galactic conducted a series of suborbital flights, taking passengers to the edge of space for a few minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth. In June 2024, these flights were paused as the company shifted focus to developing a new generation of spacecraft, with services now expected to resume later this year.
Other players have followed similar stop-start trajectories, reflecting both the technical complexity of space flight and the limitations of the current market. “There was definitely media hype,” Sigala says. “But the technology hasn’t progressed as much as expected.”
Instead, space tourism has found its footing as something far more exclusive. Suborbital seats cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, while orbital journeys—required to reach a future space station—run into the tens of millions. “It’s too expensive to be a purely tourist venture,” Sigala says. “Tourism is used to subsidise part of the cost.”
At the same time, the companies driving these developments have shifted their priorities. Launching satellites, securing government contracts, and building long-term infrastructure for missions beyond Earth are the real business. Tourism, while valuable, is secondary—a way of demonstrating capability rather than sustaining it.
For Sigala, this shift reflects a broader change in how the space race is being understood. “It’s not a race of who goes first any more,” she says. “It’s about who can make it work—who can go, return safely, and do something that is economically viable.”
Even so, demand persists. Hundreds of would-be space tourists have already placed deposits, drawn by the promise of seeing Earth from above. But for now, the experience remains the preserve of a very small group.
Opportunities for Australians
For Australians, the opportunity may lie closer to home than orbit itself. While the country is unlikely to become a major space tourism operator, its geography makes it well suited to launch infrastructure and training. “Whoever is going to space will need to come to the country, prepare and train,” Sigala says. “That’s also part of space tourism.”
What Lies Ahead?
The future of space tourism does not look like a sudden leap into orbital holidays, but rather a gradual build. Over the next decade, commercial space stations may begin to take shape. A handful of private individuals may spend short stays in orbit. The experience may become marginally more accessible—but not by much.
“I’m sure it will happen,” Sigala says. “I just don’t know how soon.”
