Are five minutes in outer space worth $450,000?
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) founder Richard Branson hopes so.
Branson and his crew made headlines in July by flying to space.
Their trip took about two and a half hours. But they only floated weightless in space for five minutes.
Now Virgin Galactic is selling a similar experience for $450,000.
Judging by the results of our recent survey, seats could sell out soon.
On Saturday, we asked Winning Investor Daily readers if they’d take a space flight.
And 48% of respondents said: “Yes — I can’t wait to go to space!”
But cosmic joyrides are just the first phase of space tourism.
In fact, one company plans to open a luxury space hotel…
The Best Hotel in the Universe?
Commercial space flight has attracted billionaires such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
But John Blincow is a former pilot with a big vision.
“This golden age of space travel is just around the corner,” he said. “It’s coming. It’s coming fast.”
Blincow founded Orbital Assembly in 2019 with ambitions to build the first space hotel.
It sounds a little crazy. But Blincow plans to start construction by 2026.
The “Voyager Station” will accommodate 280 guests and 112 crew members.
And thanks to its artificial gravity, it will feel somewhat like being in a regular hotel — just in space.
Orbital Assembly plans to use Musk’s SpaceX shuttles to fly tourists to the space hotel.
The total cost of the trip? $5 million for a three-and-a-half-day vacation.
That’s an insane amount of money when you could travel anywhere on Earth for far less.
But Blincow promises it’ll be worth it.
“You’re going to have the top chefs making really, really good food. […] It’s not going to be burgers and fries,” he said.
Blincow added: “We want to have Sting come up and play. And Beyonce. There’ll be two shows every night.”
2 Ways to Invest in Space Tourism
It’s too early to say what will happen with Orbital Assembly’s space hotel. The company isn’t public yet anyway.
And Virgin Galactic is a risky play.
In October, Richard Branson’s company said it had to push back its space flights — again.
Space tourists will now have to wait until the fourth quarter of 2022.
SPCE is down 63% since Branson went to space in July.
A smarter way to invest in space tourism is the Procure Space ETF (Nasdaq: UFO).
This exchange-traded fund holds shares of 35 space companies.
These include satellite makers, defense contractors and other companies with cutting-edge space tech.
UFO is up 21% since the start of the year. That’s about on par with the Nasdaq Composite Index.
But it’s solid growth considering the space industry is still in its infancy.
Ian King also has a space stock in his New Era Fortunes portfolio.
I can’t give away its name in this free e-letter. But it’s a tiny company with HUGE growth potential.
Ian believes this stock could hand his subscribers a 158% gain within a couple of years.
You can learn more about New Era Fortunes by watching Ian’s brand-new presentation.
Regards,
Assistant Managing Editor, Banyan Hill Publishing
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