Space Tourism (the Soyuz tourists)
2001-present
Spaceflight is real, commercial, and ongoing. Between 2001 and 2009, eight non-astronauts paid to reach the ISS - $20-35 million each - and the program has continued since.
Specs
The eight ISS tourist flights (MCToon's list): Dennis Tito 2001 ($20M, the first space tourist), Mark Shuttleworth 2002 ($20M), Gregory Olsen 2005 ($20M), Anousheh Ansari 2006, Charles Simonyi 2007 ($20M), Richard Garriott 2008 ($30M), Charles Simonyi again 2009, Guy Laliberté 2009 ($35M). Since: Inspiration4 (2021, four private citizens on a SpaceX Crew Dragon) and Yusaku Maezawa's 2021 lunar orbit on a SpaceX Crew Dragon.
Why it matters
The 'NASA is faking it' claim collapses when you can buy a seat. Ordinary people - a South African president, a Microsoft co-founder, a Canadian billionaire - have paid tens of millions to go to space, been tracked by independent radar, and come back. Space tourism is the most direct refutation of 'space is a hoax': it is a business.