Between Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, space travel is no longer a dream that can only be fulfilled by astronauts, as long as you have millions of dollars!
It may be a while before the average person gets to take a space vacation, but for celebrities intergalactic travel is suddenly possible.
Here are 10 celebs who are are planning to boldly go into space or who have backed away from the stars…
Send me into orbit!
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Between Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, space travel is no longer a dream that can only be fulfilled by astronauts, as long as you have millions of dollars! It may be a while before the average person gets to take a space vacation, but for celebrities intergalactic travel is suddenly possible. Here are 10 celebs who are are planning to boldly go into space or who have backed away from the stars…
Michael Strahan
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‘Good Morning America’ host and former New York Giants footballer Michael Strahan travelled to space on a Blue Origin flight in December 2021. Describing his excitement before the flight on ‘GMA’, he said: “Blue Origin – they approached me and without hesitation, I said ‘yes.’ I’m going to space!” After the flight, he detailed the experience, saying: “It’s such – almost like an out-of-body experience. It’s hard to even believe it happened. It’s a crazy feeling, like the feeling of weightlessness, the feeling when the booster goes off, the rocket goes off, and it detaches and you don’t know what’s up from down. And your body just goes like this, and you take off a seatbelt, but naturally, it feels natural to move. You actually have to push off things and touch them very gently [to move about with zero gravity.] But it feels very natural.”
William Shatner
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Captain Kirk himself finally made it to space! ‘Star Trek’ actor William Shatner, 90, was one of the first celebrities chosen to travel to space, and he became the oldest person to do so. Before taking the trip, he said: “I’ve heard about space for a long time now. I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.” Speaking to Jeff Bezos – whose New Shepard Rocket he was a passenger on – about the experience, he said: “Everybody in the world needs to do this. Everybody in the world needs to see it. It was unbelievable. The little things – the weightless – but to see the blue color (of the sky) whip by you and now you’re staring into blackness… And then it’s gone. It was so moving. This experience did something unbelievable.”
Tom Hanks
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Though Tom Hanks was initially eager to join the list of celebs who have participated in space travel, the 65-year-old actor changed his mind. He once said that when it comes to space, he’d “do it in a minute”. However, he ultimately changed his mind due to the price, despite reports that he had purchased a ticket for a Virgin Galactic flight. He joked with Jimmy Kimmel: “It costs 28 million bucks or something like that. I’m doing good, Jimmy. I’m doing good, but I ain’t paying 28 [million] bucks.”
Justin Bieber
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Justin Bieber has been talking about space travel since 2013, back when he was only 19 years old. He and manager Scooter Braun reportedly bought Virgin Galactic tickets. Back in 2013, he tweeted: “Let’s shoot a music video in SPACE!! #nextLEVEL.”
Rihanna
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Rihanna has always been fascinated with space. A source revealed: “She has been obsessed with space since she was a child so it would be a dream come true for her.” The 34-year-old singer has reportedly put down a deposit for three tickets on a Virgin Galactic flight, but has yet to actually experience space travel.
Lady Gaga
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Back in 2015, Lady Gaga announced she wants to be the first performer to ever sing in space. The 35-year-old pop star revealed: “My ticket was given to me. I was asked specifically to sing. I’m going to be the first recording artist to sing in space.” Lady Gaga was lucky enough to get her ticket for free when Virgin Galactic asked her to perform aboard their aircraft. However, after test flight failures, she ultimately backed out of the trip.
Leonardo DiCaprio
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‘Titanic’ star Leonardo DiCaprio bought two tickets to space with Virgin Galactic. The 47-year-old actor auctioned off the second ticket for charity, which sold for about 1.5 million dollars. Russian businessman Vasily Klyukin, who founded a bank and manages a real estate fund, bought the second ticket, though plans were cancelled after SpaceShipTwo test flight issues. However, Vasily still wants to go to space someday, and still plans to do so with Virgin Galactic. He said: “My plans of flying into space haven’t changed and I’m still going to do it with Virgin. The conquest of space is not a trip to the movies or something like that, therefore nobody is in a hurry.”
Ashton Kutcher
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Back when Virgin Galactic tickets were first announced, Ashton Kutcher was the 500th person to buy a seat. Richard Branson posted about Ashton’s purchase: “He is as thrilled as we are at the prospect of being among the first to cross the final frontier (and back!) with us and to experience the magic of space for himself.” Though the 44-year-old actor was excited about space travel and also planning to purchase a ticket for wife Mila Kunis, 38, he announced in July 2021 that he sold his ticket. He revealed: “My wife encouraged that it was not a smart family decision to be heading into space when we have young children.” Ashton and Mila have two children together: daughter Wyatt Isabelle Kutcher, 7, and son Dimitri Portwood Kutcher, 5.
Jeff Bezos
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Of course, Amazon CEO and Blue Origin founder himself, 58-year-old Jeff Bezos is a space travel pioneer. Jeff went into space on July 20, 2021. The date is significant – it was the 52-year anniversary of the Apollo 11 space mission that first brought humans to the moon. Jeff travelled on the first human-manned flight of his rocket New Shepard. When exiting the ship after it’s 10-minute flight, Jeff declared: “Best day ever!” Despite criticism of the “billionaire space race” that many claim exists only to offer joyrides to celebrities, Jeff insisted that his space travel will have a positive environmental impact. He said: “We need to take all heavy industry, all polluting industry and move it into space, and keep Earth as this beautiful gem of a planet that it is. It’s going to take decades and decades to achieve, but you have to start, and big things start with small steps … that’s what this sub-orbital tourism mission allows us to do, it allows us to practice over and over.”
Pete Davidson
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Despite last week’s announcement that 28-year-old comedian Pete Davidson would be travelling to space on Blue Origin’s next flight as an “honorary guest,” he has since backed out of the trip. Blue Origin announced on March 17: “Blue Origin’s 20th flight of New Shepard has shifted to Tuesday, March 29. Pete Davidson is no longer able to join the NS-20 crew on this mission. We will announce the sixth crew member in the coming days.” Pete had previously told Seth Meyers that he would “100 per cent” go to space if given the opportunity, and has not yet commented on why he backed out of the travel. It is unclear whether Blue Origin will fill the sixth spot with another celebrity, though they are expected to announce the final crew member before the flight takes off on March 29. The flight was originally scheduled for March 23.