How much does a holiday in space cost you?

Space cadets

Richard Branson joined a test flight on his Virgin Galactic craft to the edge of space, to promote the tourist space trips he has been promising for over a decade. How much does it cost to be a space tourist (assuming any succeed in taking passengers)?

£180,000: Price for a Virgin Galactic trip to the edge of space. Passengers will experience a few minutes of weightlessness but will not orbit the Earth or cross the Karman Line deemed to mark the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and space. Price includes spacesuit.

£20m: Price of a seat in Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft, auctioned in June. Includes an 11-minute flight into space, sitting next to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

£39.6m: Price of a trip to the International Space Station on Elon Musk’s SpaceX mission. Price includes eight days on the ISS.

Big spenders

Which countries give the most overseas aid (in terms of percentage of GNI)?

Qatar 1.17

Turkey 1.15

Hot air

Lytton in British Columbia recorded a temperature of 49.6°C, breaking Canada’s highest record by 4°C and leading some to claim global warming is accelerating. How far back do Canada’s state-by-state highest temperature records go?

Alberta 43.3C (1931)

British Columbia 49.6C (2021)

Manitoba 44.9C (1936)

North Brunswick 39.4C (1935)

Newfoundland 38.3C (1921)

Northwest Territories 39.9C (2021)

Nova Scotia 38.3C (1935)

Ontario 42.2C (1919, 1936)

Quebec 40C (1921)

Saskatchewan 45C (1937)