Did you know Ashton Kutcher almost went to space? The former actor and venture capitalist once spent quite a hefty amount of money on tickets for a civilian spacecraft trip into outer space. However, Kutcher stepped away from the entire ordeal, all because of his family. When Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic was still building out its plan for a commercial spaceflight, Ashton Kutcher had bought the tickets and had become customer number 500.Years later, he quietly sold his seat back to the company. His decision came not because of a loss of interest, but because of a persuasive talk with his wife, Mila Kunis, about family responsibilities.Here’s all you need to know about one of Kutcher’s most eccentric purchases.
In 2012, Ashton Kutcher bought a commercial space travel ticket
CBS News shared that in March 2012, the company’s founder, Sir Richard Branson, personally announced that Ashton Kutcher had purchased a seat aboard the VSS Unity (which was then part of the SpaceShipTwo development project). He also confirmed that Kutcher had been the 500th person to buy a commercial ticket for space from them.The price of a reservation at the time was USD 200,000, though the cost subsequently rose to USD 250,000 and higher for people who booked tickets later. At the time, it had been predicted by the company that such commercial flights would start by 2013 or 2014; however, a lot of factors, including technical developments, extensive testing, and safety protocols, delayed the timeline significantly over the following decade.
Why Ashton Kutcher sold his space ticket back to the company
After getting married to Mila Kunis and having children, a lot of things in Kutcher’s life drastically changed. It was a conversation about family priorities with his wife. That made Kutcher return to space travel. (Instagram)
In 2021, while in conversation with Cheddar, the actor finally shared why he had chosen to back down from the commercial space travel ticket, especially when technology was at the cusp of advancement into making short space travel trips a reality. He shared that it was not because he lost interest in the entire thing, but more so because of a conversation he had with his wife, actress Mila Kunis. The actor commented, “When I got married and had kids, my wife encouraged that it was not a smart family decision to be heading into space when we have young children.”He also commented, “I will not be on the next flight, but at some point, I’m going to space.”
About Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher’s relationship
The pair met for the first time on ‘That ’70s Show,’ where they starred together. At the time, Kunis was 14 years old while Kutcher was 19 years old. After Kutcher left the series in 2005, they stayed in touch casually while dating or marrying other people. Around this time period, Kunis was in a long-term relationship with Macaulay Culkin, while Kutcher married Demi Moore in 2005, though the two broke up in 2011.Kunis and Kutcher reconnected at the Golden Globes in January 2012, started hanging out at a housewarming party soon after, and quietly moved in together by April 2012. Later, they got engaged in February 2014, welcomed their daughter Wyatt in October 2014, and tied the knot on July 4, 2015. They welcomed their second child, son Dimitri, in November 2016.
Was the company ever able to launch its commercial space travel flights?
According to USA Today, the company completed its first successful space flight in 2018. They launched their first commercial spaceflight (Galactic 01) in June 2023, which was followed by multiple crewed and tourist flights through June 2024 (Galactic 07), after which VSS Unity was officially retired. Commercial flight operations after June 2024 have been put on hold as the company worked on developing new space planes for the future.Initially, the company that Kutcher bought the ticket from had planned for their return to take place in 2026 itself. However, due to some delays, the dates have been postponed to February 2027 for now.
