Space tourism in the Anthropocene

There is growing acceptance that we are living through a transition between geological ages, from the Holocene to the Anthropocene. This paper examines the burgeoning space tourism industry in relation to the Anthropocene. The development of outer space has significant implications for Earth's inhabitants, yet only a small cadre of individuals, companies, and governments are involved in this process. Space tourism provides a germane context for conceptualising the ongoing debates regarding the extent to which Anthropos - humankind as an undifferentiated, unitary geological force - is responsible for the impacts that have culminated in the Anthropocene. We apply the Capitalocene framework to elucidate how the factors that brought the Anthropocene to fruition are now extending beyond Earth.