The Tourist's Guide To Space
Popular Mechanics|April 2019

It’s Time To Start Planning Your Trip Beyond The Atmosphere.

The Tourist's Guide To Space

Space has it all.

Circular mountain ranges! Metallic asteroids! Geysers of sulfur! Oceans on a steady boil! It may just be the ultimate vacation destination. But how do you pack for the moon? What are you looking at for lodging? Will you get carsick in a rocket? In the era of space tourism,these are things you need to know.

So here’s the first thing: They call it “The Overview Effect.” It’s what happens when you see the Earth from space, all you’ve ever known just a glittering orb in the cosmic emptiness.Your sense of humanity grows. Your perception shifts. You are forever changed.

Sounds kind of scary. But then, isn’t it exactly why we travel?

PLAN YOUR TRIP

There are no short trips to space—only long, longer, or forever. And odds are, you’ll only go once. These trips will make the most of whatever amount of time you have.

By Bobak Ferdowsi

THE GETAWAY

ROUND TRIP:

Two weeks

The moon is only three days away. It’s the sole destination in space where you can retrace the steps of human explorers, and you’ll encounter a variety of craters, ridges, and plateaus for your own expeditions. The lunar poles harbor water. Mare Orientale is the moon’s youngest impact basin, ringed by circular mountain ranges nearly 600 miles in diameter. The near side of the moon offers breathtaking views of Earth, while the far side is the ultimate digital detox—there’s very limited means for communication with Earth.

THE SABBATICAL

ROUND TRIP:

Three years

This story is from the April 2019 edition of Popular Mechanics.

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This story is from the April 2019 edition of Popular Mechanics.

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