Labor Day on Mars? Americans are already saving up for space travel

A day ago, multibillionaire Jeff Bezos revealed that he and his brother would be launched into outer space in July on Blue Origin’s first suborbital flight carrying human passengers. Of course, the fact that Blue Origin’s space rocket would be entrusted to shuttle the world’s richest man—and the founder of two successful companies, one being mega-conglomerate Amazon and the other being the architect of the space excursion itself—bodes very, very well for the future of space travel (barring, God forbid, some sort of space catastrophe).

Meanwhile, Americans will be watching eagerly. And some, in their mind’s eye, may already be planning their own future summers in outer space, says new data from Ally Bank. Because following in the footsteps of a billionaire takes financial forethought, Americans have started the prudent task of saving up—designating Ally funding buckets with such names as “space vacations,” “a trip to space,” and “SpaceX,” according to the bank. (SpaceX is Elon Musk’s company—sorry, Jeff!)

The bank didn’t specify how large these funding buckets are.

Work on space travel and tourism has proliferated in recent years: In addition to Blue Origin’s flight next month, sometime circa 2023, a SpaceX Starship will launch a circumlunar trajectory with six to eight passengers on board, in a project helmed by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. According to Maezawa, other passengers will be artists in various mediums, who will hopefully be inspired to create works encouraging world peace upon their return to Earth.

Bezos’s crew is also taking a third passenger on its flight, with the seat going to the winner of an internet auction. Bidding recently surpassed $3 million.

As of right now, space travel—much like the lofty goal of supporting arts for world peace—is perhaps accessible to the deep pocketed and the well connected, but not the vast majority of the population. But if and when it does reach the commercial sector, you can expect it won’t be cheap. So why not start stashing cash in that bucket today?