Half a century after astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon, a new space race is under way to exploit the skies for commercial profit.

Tech giants and startups pursuing bold plans such as selling space tourism, mining asteroids and beaming giant adverts into the skies are winning millions in investment with pledges to bring the stars into reach.

Annual revenues from space-related business — currently worth $350 billion — could nearly triple in size by 2040, estimates U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley.