Sometime in the next few years, you could be suspended in the stars' awesome majesty, traversing space's vast expanse… all for just a few thousand dollars and some PTO.
The age of commercial spaceflight is here, and the burgeoning industry needs a qualified workforce. But astronauts are a limited labor pool, and few have #opentowork on their LinkedIns.
That labor shortage (paired with the lack of established standards for commercial astronaut training) has prompted some businesses to start accepting applications:
- France’s The Spaceflight Institute plans to offer its own certificates for qualified commercial astronauts to create a “reference standard for commercial astronaut training." So far, they have one three-day course available that’ll set you back ~$940.
- Sierra Space Human Spaceflight Center — the training arm of aerospace defense tech company Sierra Space — has a program that blends legacy astronaut training methods with emerging insights from commercial spaceflight. It aims to usher us all into the Orbital Age™ (yes, that's trademarked).
- Nancy Vermeulen Space Training Academy offers a series of private lessons from Nancy Vermeulen, a former commercial airline pilot-instructor and commander of a Mars simulation in Utah. Course highlights include a zero-gravity flight and a mock Mars expedition.
Could it be worth it?
Believe it or not, the value of commercial spaceflight training might extend beyond giving you the ultimate material for "two truths and a lie."
- A 2024 report from the World Economic Forum estimates that the space economy will reach $1.8T by 2035, up from $630B in 2023.
- The space tourism market alone is estimated to surpass $10B in 2030, up from $888.3m in 2023.
According to The Spaceflight Institute, fewer than 150 astronauts are currently certified worldwide — a workforce that might be stretched just a teensy bit thin as the industry grows exponentially in the next few years.
Ultimately, commercial spaceflight training programs shed light on a glaring gap in a sector poised to take off.
The only downside? We hear the commute is a real headache.
