What 2026 holds for the space tourism race

With two lunar missions set for 2026 and increasing international and privatised competition for valuable industrial moon real estate, such as its perpetually sunlit south pole or mineable asteroids, what can we expect in the coming year in the space race and space tourism?

Cooperation between the Chinese National Space Administration and Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, on the development of the International Lunar Research Station continues. Site reconnaissance is due to be completed in 2026, and construction is slated to start by 2028. Though the station is intended for international science partners, tourist visits are a long way off.

In 2026, humans are set to return to the moon’s neighbourhood for the first time since 1972 on a 10-day mission which is essentially a fly-by using a “free return trajectory” to loop around, testing NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and validating all systems, especially life support, for future Moon landings and Mars missions. NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens posted on X on 2 January 2026 that preparations for the Artemis II mission were advanced. The rocket is moving to the launch pad “in less than two weeks,” she said, for final testing. The launch window is between 6 February and April.

The event is driving a surge in business and leisure travel on the so-called US “space coast” near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Meagan Happel, Space Coast Office of Tourism public relations manager, told FLORIDA TODAY via email that during the previous Artemis I launch, nearby hotels were fully booked by stakeholder companies, out-of-town visitor arrivals, and media. The Office is expecting similar crowds this next time, so anyone interested in attending should act quickly.

Next year, we’re going back to the Moon 🌕

Don’t forget to send your name to fly aboard the Orion spacecraft with the Artemis II crew: https://t.co/nVKTEM3wOT pic.twitter.com/Ajpb8iLbbu

— NASA Ames (@NASAAmes) December 26, 2025

However, NASA’s budget continues to shrink and is now smaller than at any time since 1961. This means, as The Guardian points out, that despite a 1960s treaty defining space as a universal commons like the high seas, the private sector is now at the forefront of space exploration, with billionaire-led companies like Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX dominant. Space fans can get in on this action when SpaceX floats on the stock market for €1.5 trillion, a seismic event due to take place at some point in 2026.

But, writing on Medium, space journalist Will Lockett has said Musk should be worried about Blue Origin’s New Glenn ship, which successfully launched and delivered the ESCAPADE probes on their journey to Mars in November and “perfectly landed the first stage, proving New Glenn is a highly competent and economically viable launch vehicle.”

While New Glenn is not intended for tourist flights, Blue Origin successfully launched the 37^th flight of its New Shepard in 2025, marking the first time a wheelchair user (Michaela Benthaus, an aerospace and mechatronics engineer at the European Space Agency) has flown above the Kármán Line, the internationally recognized boundary of space. Including that crew, New Shepard has now flown 92 people (86 individuals) into space. No announcements on missions and passengers 2026 have yet been made, but Blue Origin is making much of New Shepard’s accessibility, noting the craft’s suitability for travellers who are “wheelchair users, hard of hearing, have limited mobility or limb differences, have low vision, or are legally blind.”

Meanwhile, space is increasingly crowded, filled with orbiting satellites that Interesting Engineering says, “could increase collision risks and complicate future space operations.” In response, Elon Musk’s Starlink will begin lowering the orbit of its satellites in 2026, condensing 4,400 satellites operating at an altitude of 550 km down to 480 km and freeing up room in low Earth orbit. For reference, the International Space Station (ISS) operates at 408 km above Earth. Denis Tito was the first self-funded space tourist to the ISS in 2001, and since then, visits by a range of wealthy individuals have taken place, including Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil, in 2009. Tourist trips to the ISS continue, but again, the roster for 2026 has not yet been announced.