Space may be the final frontier but several private companies are making it their mission to turn space tourism into an affordable reality.SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have poured millions of pounds into research and development, bringing with it a new kind of “space race” for the 21st century.This week's Future File podcast explores the current state of space tourism – from current space stations like the ISS and China's doomed Tiangong-1 to the proposed human settlements on the moon and Mars that Elon Musk hopes to create.Jeff Parsons and Shivali Best discuss whether they would be willing to journey into space and even manage to throw in a couple of book recommendations on the subject of space travel.We also pay a tribute to the late Professor Stephen Hawking who was undoubtedly one of the brightest minds in the scientific community.Thanks for listening. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices