The new Shepard Booster does the touchdown on 14 April during the NS-31. Credit: Blue Origin
On April 14, 2025, Blue Origin launched six women – Aisha Bowe, Amanda Guy, Gayle King, Katy Perry, Karian Flynn and Lauren Scheme – on a suborbital trip on the edge of the space.
The headlines called it a historical moment for women in space. But as a tourist teacher, I stopped – not because I questioned his experience, but because I questioned the language. Was they astronauts or space tourists? The distinction matters – not only for accuracy, but also to understand how experience, symbolism and inspiration size journey today.
In tourism studies, my colleagues and I often ask what inspires the journey and makes it a meaningful experience. These women crossed a border except the surface of the Earth. But he also stepped into a controversy about a symbolic one: a blurred line between astronaut and tourist between scientific achievement and cure experience.
This flight was not just about the height they flying – it was about what it meant. Since commercial space travel becomes more accessible to citizens, more people are not as scientists or mission experts, but invited guests or participants are joining spaceflights as paying. The line between astronaut and space tourist is becoming increasingly blurred.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQPRHCTD6
In my work, I find out how travelers get meaning from their way of travel. A tourism study can help in the perspective of how experiences such as Blue Origin Flight are designed, marketed and eventually understood by travelers and tourism industry.
So, were these passengers astronauts? Not in traditional sense. He was not selected through NASA’s rigorous training protocols, nor was he doing research or investigation into the classroom.
Instead, they belong to a new category: space tourists. It is a formulated, symbolic journey participants in the symbolic journey that reflects how to re -define the commercial spaceflight what means to go into space.
Space tourism as a niche market
Space tourism originated in 1986 with the launch of Mir Space Station, which later became the first orbital platform to host non -profit astronauts. In the 1990s and early 2000s, MIR and its successor, the International Space Station, welcomed a handful of privately funded civil guests – the most specially in 2001 American businessman Dennis Tito, who is often quoted as the first space tourist.
Space tourism has since developed in a niche market selling brief encounters on the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere. While the passengers of the NS-31 flight did not buy their seats, the experience showed the experience sold by commercial space tourism providers such as Virgin Galactic.
Like other forms of top tourism – Wellness Retreat, Heritage Trails or Extreme Adventures – Space Travel appeals to those who are designed for novelty, uniqueness and status, whether they buy tickets.
These sub -ups can just last for a few minutes, but they provide some more permanent: reputation, personal story and a sense of participation in some rare. Space tourism sells the experience of something happening somewhere, not at the destination. For many people, even a 10 -minute flight can complete a deep personal milestone.
Tourist Inspiration and Space Tourism Development
The push-end-pull principle in tourism studies helps explain why people want to pursue space travel. Push factor – internal desires such as curiosity, an urge to escape or eagerness to gain fame – spark interest. Pull factor – external elements such as to see the scene of the earth from above or to experience the sensation of weightlessness – increasing the appeal.
Space tourism taps both in both. It is given by internal drive to fuel some extraordinary and a high choreograph, external attraction of emotional experience.
These flights are often branded – not necessarily with attractive logo, but through storytelling and design options that make the experience feel distinguished. For example, while the new Shepard rocket women traveled, it is not a different symbol, it includes the company’s name, blue origin, in the side in bold letters. Passengers wear individual flight suits, pose for preflight photos and get mission patch or certificate, all are designed to resonate rituals of professional space missions.
What is being sold is a “astronaut-a-e-day” experience: emotionally powerful, visually hypnotic and rich with symbolism. But under tourism classification, these passengers are space tourists-a curer, participant in a short-term tour.
Representation and marketing experience
The image of the blue origin flight of six women on a rocket was designed as a symbolic victory-the girl-power-designed girl-power for the festive and celebration was also cautious.
This was not the first time women entered space. Since its inception, NASA has chosen 61 women as astronaut candidates, many of them are contributing groundbreaking to space science and exploration. Sally Ride, Mae Jemisson, Christina Coach and Jessica Mir not only entered the space-they trained as astronauts and contributed significantly to science, engineering and long-term missions. His visits marked historical achievements in space exploration rather than the moments cured in tourism.
It is important to identify their heritage because the commercial spaceflight scientific creates new types of new types of unique, sewn experiences by media performance than milestones.
The Blue Origin Flight was not a scientific mission, but was designed as a symbolic event. In tourism, companies, disaster and media outlets often create these performances to maximize their visibility. SpaceX has taken a similar approach with its inspiration 4 mission, completing a private orbital flight with a Netflix documentary and emotional story at a global media event.
The Blue Origin Flight sold the spirit of progress, combining the roles between the astronaut and the guest. For blue origin, the symbolic value was important. By launching the first all-female crew in suborbital space, the company was able to claim a historic milestone-one that aligned them with inclusion-without the cost, complexity or risk associated with the scientific mission. In doing so, he attracted media attention.
Tourism education and media literacy
In today’s world, the space journey is about the story that is told about the flight. From curated visuals to social media posts and press coverage, most of the experience has been shaped by marketing and media.
Understanding that process matters – not only for scholars or internal formulas of the industry, but also for public members who follow these trips through stories produced by companies’ marketing teams and media outlets.
Another theory in tourism studies show how destinations develop over time – from exploration, from development, from large -scale adoption. Many forms of tourism begin in an exploration phase, which are only rich or well connected. For example, the grand tour of Europe was a rites of ever passing for the elite. Its legacy helped shape and develop modern journey.
Right now, the space tourism is in the exploration phase. It is expensive, exclusive and available only to some. There is a limited infrastructure to support this, and companies are still using what the experience should look like. It is not yet a mass tourism, it is like a high-profile playground for early adopters, with every launch, draws media attention and curiosity.
Progress in technology, economic changes and changing cultural norms can increase access to unique sites that begin as a border for the majority of tourists. Space may be the next to develop in tourism industry in this way. Now how it is implicated – who goes to go, participants how to label and how their stories are told – will set the tone that moves forward. Understanding these trips helps people see how society packages and sells an inspirational experience, before most people can spend to join the journey.
Betsi Pudliner is an associate professor of hospitality and technology innovation at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Pudlineer is affiliated to the International Council of Hotels, restaurants and institutional teachers. The University of Wisconsin-Stout conversation provides funds as a member of the US.
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