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    William Shatner is bound for space, but the rest of us will have to wait

    New space companies are touting space tourism. But so far the final frontier has been the playground of the rich or famous, plus a few everyday folks who had a bit of luck.
    by Nell Greenfieldboyce Oct 11, 2021 4 minutes
    Space companies like Blue Origin are grabbing headlines with the promise of a new era of space tourism, mostly recently with the plan to send William Shatner to the edge of space. But unless you're lucky, space is still out of reach for most of the public.

    Star Trek's Captain Kirk is about to boldly go where hundreds of others have gone before, continuing a decades-long tradition of space flights for non-astronauts who are wealthy or famous or well-connected — or all of the above.

    As for ordinary folks without deep pockets — well, the final frontier might be opening up a just a bit, but opportunities still basically come down to contests and luck.

    Space for the few

    Actor William Shatner is scheduled to Wednesday morning on a quick trip to the edge of space and back, riding in the capsule developed by Blue Origin, the space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos.

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