For years, space tourism felt like a novelty that just kept growing. A quick ride up. A few minutes of weightlessness. A view of Earth that only a handful of humans had ever seen. Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket became part of that story, lifting celebrities, billionaires, and guests to the edge of space and back. Short flights. Big headlines.Blue Origin has announced it will halt flights of New Shepard for at least two years. The company says it wants to shift focus and resources elsewhere. Not towards tourism. Towards the Moon. And that decision, while not entirely surprising, still marks a quiet but meaningful shift in the modern space race.

Jeff Bezos helped launch New Shepard’s space tourism moment

Since 2021, New Shepard has flown people on brief suborbital trips lasting about ten minutes. Not orbit. Not the International Space Station. Just past the Kármán line, widely accepted as the boundary of space. Passengers included Jeff Bezos himself, actor William Shatner, NFL star Michael Strahan, journalist Gayle King, and pop singer Katy Perry. A strange mix, but that was the point. Space, briefly, was becoming accessible to people outside the traditional astronaut mould.In total, 98 people have flown aboard New Shepard. Blue Origin never disclosed ticket prices, though estimates have ranged into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. For a while, it seemed like the flights would continue steadily. In a statement released on Friday, Blue Origin said it is pausing New Shepard flights to “shift resources to further accelerate development of the company’s human lunar capabilities.” Blue Origin is one of two companies holding a NASA contract to develop a lunar lander capable of ferrying astronauts from orbit to the Moon’s surface. The other is SpaceX.NASA’s Artemis programme is aiming to return humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo. Artemis III, the mission that would include a lunar landing, is currently scheduled for 2028. The pause also appears to reflect growing political pressure. Lawmakers in the US have increasingly framed lunar missions as part of a broader geopolitical race, particularly with China. China plans to land its own astronauts on the Moon by 2030.

What happens to space tourists now

One awkward question remains. What about the people who already have tickets? Blue Origin hasn’t said how many future passengers are affected or what happens next. For now, space tourism via New Shepard is effectively grounded.