Space tourists will soon be able to fly to suborbital space to experience moments of weightlessness and feel the thrill of seeing the Earth.

This is because the suborbital tourism industry now appears to be gaining momentum. George Nield, associate administrator for commercial space transportation at the U. S. Federal Aviation Administration agrees.

"I'm very bullish on the market. We're seeing of lot of activity," he said.

Part of the reason Nield is so bullish on suborbital spaceflight is that he sees the market encompassing more than just tourist jaunts. Before long, there should be a big demand for suborbital research flights, he said, chartered by government agencies, research institutions or other organizations.

This week, leaders of the private spaceflight industry, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration will discuss the future of commercial space travel when they gather in Las Cruces, N. M. this week for the seventh annual International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight.

While the industry had a rather slow start, recent developments show that everything is picking up.

"I'm seeing the likelihood that several of these companies are going to be at the point where they're testing their vehicles in the next couple of years," Nield said, adding that within the next five years, he expect to see regular and frequent operations.

The age of space tourism began in 2001 when American entrepreneur Dennis Tito paid a reported $20 million for an orbital trip to the International Space Station. After this trip six other millionaires embarked on similar trips, the most recent was in 2009 and reportedly cost $35 million.

However, soon even not so rich space tourists can experience the thrill of suborbital flights. Private efforts are being geared towards developing spaceships that could cater to space tourists or scientists hoping to perform experiments during their brief moment in suborbital space.

In fact, about 450 people have already booked to fly with Virgin Galactic's test flights scheduled next year.

Virgin Galactic president and CEO George Whitesides said, "We designed a vehicle that we think meets the sweet spot for those customers."

Starting up a suborbital spaceflight operation also involves more than just designing a spaceship, he added. Virgin Galactic has had to develop a manufacturing program for SpaceShipTwo (which will officially be known as the VSS Enterprise).

"We really do aspire to build the world's first commercial spaceline," Whitesides told SPACE.com.

"And to us, that means a lot more than just having a vehicle. It means really building out an experience, and the start of an industry.

John Gedmark, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, noted that another reason for the rather slow start of the industry is that Virgin Galactic and other players in the suborbital human spaceflight game - companies such as XCOR Aerospace, Armadillo Aerospace and Blue Origin - are also prioritizing safety over speed of development.

"They're taking the time necessary to make sure the vehicles are as safe as they possibly can be before they take paying customers up," Gedmark said.