The Virgin Galactic space plane launching from midair.

The Virgin Galactic space plane launching from midair.

First, it should be noted that although Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have definitely established a milestone in the history of space tourism, they are not the first private space tourists. The first private person who was not professionally trained for missions but flew to space as a "tourist" is Dennis Tito, an American entrepreneur who stayed at the International Space Station for seven days in 2001.