The race to space: Experts say 2018 will be the year space tourism takes off

Space. The final frontier, and quite possibly your family's next March Break vacation.

Experts say 2018 will be the year space tourism takes off. But while great leaps are being made at what seems like warp speed, it's a venture that's still fraught with issues that go far beyond its out-of-this-world price tag.

Cost of launch, of course, remains a major barrier, and one way to bring it down from seven figures to six, or even five, is to build rockets that don't end up as space junk after one launch.

'Having vehicles that can be used again and again, with a very low failure rate, is essential to a viable industry.'- Dr. Jaymie Matthews

"Unless space tourism is to remain exclusively for billionaires, then having vehicles that can be used again and again, with a very low failure rate, is essential to a viable industry," says Dr. Jaymie Matthews, a professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia.

Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, got a step closer last month when it successfully reused an orbit-class booster — the most expensive part of the rocket — which then landed itself on a platform in the ocean.

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