From Curb to Launch : Explore the pre-launch, ground experience for space tourism in 2040

Sammanfattning: We are at the dawn of the next chapter of manned space flight, and space travel will soon be within reach for the majority of the humanity, not just the elite. The imminent launch of Virgin Galactic's first commercial service this year, soon to be followed by companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, means that space tourism will quickly go from one individual every few years to dozens, perhaps hundreds of new space tourists annually. Everyday civilians going to space for the purpose of tourism will have fundamentally different needs than professional astronauts going up to space for days or month at a times for work and research. To make space travel within reach of the masses, space tourist will need a different and simplified process compared to traditional astronauts. This thesis created a user-centered service that allows companies to handle the increasing number of private individuals going to space. The service not only prepares the customer for the space flight, but also provides an experience that will last a lifetime, that will be shared with others, and in the process perhaps inspire a new generation of human progress and collaboration. The result is a snapshot of the overall service, illustrate the user experience in an immersive, virtual environment. As part of the exploration, an immersive and very effective new method of user experience testing is developed as contribution to the field of Interaction Design.