(CNN) -- It's unlikely that you've heard of PJ King, despite the fact that he's about to set himself apart from most humans who've ever walked the planet. In as soon as 18 months, King could be launching into space as a paying commercial space tourist. King, a 41-year-old Irish businessman, is one of hundreds of travelers who've signed up and trained to be among the first paying passengers aboard Virgin Galactic's trips to suborbital space -- 62 miles above the Earth. "One of the reasons I'm doing this is precisely because I want these things to be ordinary," King said. "Part of the problem with space travel is that it is special."
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Traveling to space is just months away for hundreds of paying tourists, experts say
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Prices for suborbital space flights are already dropping from  $200,000 to $102,000
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Jeff Bezos, "Doom" games' John Carmack, PayPal's Elon Musk developing space systems
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New Mexico spaceport aims to host 500,000 tourists a year as Virgin Galactic base
For a much shorter journey, @placeholder wants $200,000 for a flight to suborbital space.
Spaceport officials are considering offering flights for visitors to watch @placeholder spacecraft blast into suborbit from 50,000 feet.