Resumen de Will the present younger adults become future orbital space tourists?

Luyu Wang, Svetlana O. Stepchenkova, Andrei P. Kirilenko

• Technological advancements significantly reduce the cost of space travel, thereby making many other activities in space technologically feasible and financially affordable for a larger number of people. This paper considers tourist travel to outer space, that is, beyond the 100-km Karman line altitude accepted by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale as the border between the Earth atmosphere and outer space. Because of the scarcity of literature on the market for space flights, the study investigates factors that affect enthusiasm for becoming an orbital space tourist among those who are interested in space exploration and, at the same time, are younger and educated. We investigate motivations and risk factors as well as the moderating role of involvement, gender, and age in enthusiasm to become an orbital space tourist and compare the findings with the outcomes of previously conducted marketing research.