The astronaut training tourists to fly in the world's first commercial space station Former NASA astronaut Drew Feustel now leads the astronaut training program for the private space company Vast, which aims to put its Haven-1 station into orbit in May. For decades, space stations have been largely staffed by professional astronauts and operated by a handful of nations. But that's about to change in the coming years, as companies including Axiom Space and Sierra Space launch commercial space stations that will host tourists and provide research facilities for nations and other firms. The first of those stations could be Haven-1, which the California-based company Vast aims to launch in May 2026. If all goes to plan, its earliest paying visitors will arrive about a month later. Drew Feustel, a former NASA astronaut, will help train them and get them up to speed ahead of their historic trip.

China plans to open its new space station up to'tourism' within the next decade - sparking what the country hopes is a race to compete with the likes of private American space tourists such as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson. China launched its Tiangong space station in 2021 - its first long-term space station project - with the final modules set to launch later this year. The country's announcement also comes as China continues to produce new billionaires at a blistering pace - much faster than any other nation on Earth. While there were no specific details included to determine what the future of space tourism in China will look like, officials have said it is likely that people without formal astronaut training could be launched into orbit'relatively soon.' Yang Liwei, who became the first Chinese astronaut back in 2003, said tourists visiting Tiangong'is not a matter of technology but of demand.' China is also thought to be working on a more tourist-friendly reusable spacecraft that could take up to seven astronauts at a time into space.