Space tourism

It was a historically first manned flight to the orbit operated by a commercial company (and not a governmental agency such as NASA). The most interesting aspect of the flight of course was that first stage returned to Earth, probably the most expense part of the whole rocket.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) is a company which, according to certain sources, holds the most lucrative contracts on delivering satellites for the American government to the orbit. It is estimated that ULA charges around 400 million dollars per launch, but the theoretical amount SpaceX could charge per launch, provided they fully optimise the first stage return, is 40 million. In the current market, much demand exists for space flights, especially commercial space flights, but many people expect the emergence for the so-called ‘space tourism’. If, or perhaps when, such a market does emerge, Elon Musk will be there, waiting with the lowest prices.