Japanese Travel Agency Plans 60-Minute Tokyo–New York Flights by way of Outer Space

A Japanese journey company mentioned Tuesday it plans to launch a high-speed house transport service within the 2030s that would join Tokyo and U.S. cities corresponding to New York in simply 60 minutes.

Why It Matters

Civilian house journey is quickly shifting from science fiction to actuality, as non-public firms race to make industrial spaceflight extra accessible.

What To Know

Nippon Travel Agency Co. introduced the challenge in partnership with Innovative Space Carrier Inc., a Tokyo-based startup creating reusable rockets. A spherical journey would price about 100 million yen ($657,000) per passenger. The firms mentioned the transport automobile would launch from an offshore web site and be able to linking any two factors on Earth inside an hour.

“We hope this business will be a new starting point to connect space travel and tourism,” Nippon Travel President Keigo Yoshida mentioned at a information convention. Advance purposes for this system will open in fiscal 2026.

Firms like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have launched paying passengers on quick suborbital journeys, marking main milestones in 2023 and 2024.

While ticket costs stay steep—typically lots of of 1000’s of {dollars}—developments in reusable rocket expertise are driving prices down. Companies are additionally creating point-to-point journey ideas that would someday join main international cities in underneath an hour by way of suborbital flight.

Governments and house companies are supporting these efforts by way of new rules and infrastructure partnerships, with the hope that industrial ventures will assist fund broader exploration objectives. Some specialists and analysts say the subsequent decade may see civilians not solely touring to the sting of house but in addition staying in non-public house stations, making house tourism a rising a part of the worldwide economic system.

What Happens Next

The Japanese initiative will roll out in phases, starting with space-themed excursions and food-tasting experiences tied to the challenge, adopted by plans to supply orbital stays within the 2040s. Nippon Travel will deal with product design and advertising and marketing, whereas Innovative Space Carrier will give attention to lowering prices by rising every rocket’s flight life span, firm president Kojiro Hatada mentioned.

Updates: 10/28/25, 8 p.m. ET: This article was up to date with new info.

This article contains reporting by the Associated Press.