DENNIS TITO

Businessman Dennis Tito became the world's first space tourist in 2001, when he launched to the International Space Station on a Russian rocket.

Businessman Dennis Tito became the world's first space tourist in 2001, when he launched to the International Space Station on a Russian rocket.

For most people, getting to the stars is nothing more than a dream.

Sixty years after Alan Shepard became the first American in space, everyday people are on the verge of following in his cosmic footsteps.

Amateur astronauts, private space stations, flying factories, out-of-this-world movie sets this is the future the space agency is striving to shape as it eases out of low-Earth orbit and aims for the moon and Mars. But the future is incredibly exciting, NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren said the day before SpaceXs historic liftoff. The ticket price which includes 15 weeks of training and more than a week at the space station is about $55 million. Beginning in 2024, Axiom plans to build its own addition to the 260-mile-high (420-kilometer-high) outpost to accommodate its private astronauts. SpaceX still has to get NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken safely back to Earth this summer in its Dragon capsule.