by Jaqueline Barreto
Who would have thought we would live to see the start of a space tourism era? From 2001 to date, 7 people who were not professional astronauts have traveled to space and safely returned to Earth with the Russian Space Agency, currently, the only organization providing this service. What makes this number of people so small is the fact that an orbital tourist flight costs at least U$20 million per person (WIKIPEDIA, 2015).
Wait. So, in the 21st century civilians can travel to space as long as they are millionaires? Well, technically… yes. But don’t you worry!
The sub-orbital space tourism industry is continuously growing. Companies such as Bigelow, XCOR and Virgin Galactic, just to name a few, are investing in spaceflights where passengers would go high enough so they would see the curvature of the earth and experience weightlessness, but would not go into orbital space properly speaking (WIKIPEDIA, 2015). The trip would be shorter and much cheaper – do not confuse cheaper with affordable here. XCOR, for example, is pre-selling space rides for U$95,000 apiece. Virgin Galactic, its main competitor, charges around U$250,000 per passenger for a sub-orbital flight (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, 2014).
Sir Richard Branson’s company is racing to become the first commercial spaceline. They released the video below with the highlights of 2013, year when the first powered test flights took place with SpaceShipTwo, the most glamorous spacecraft in a decades-long race to pioneer space tourism, intended to carry six passengers and two pilots into space (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, 2014). From 2007 to 2014, Virgin Galactic had more than 600 refundable space flight bookings/deposits, including as interested parties celebrities like Stephen Hawking, Tom Hanks and Ashton Kutcher (WIKIPEDIA, 2014).
Would you be tempted to buying a ticket to space with them instead of getting a mortgage loan?
If your answer was “yes”, there’s an important event you should be aware of: last October SpaceShipTwo exploded, killing one test pilot and severely injuring another. The crash put the spotlight on topics that are never left aside when space tourism is being discussed, such as the safety of those on board and strong regulations (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, 2014).
According to an article by HNGN (2015), although the company regrets last year’s crash, they are moving forward with the idea that failure is part of the process in reaching success and they remain optimistic about the future of space tourism.
Personally, I am enthusiastic about technology progress in general. I agree that, unfortunately, tragedies are a natural part of an advancement of this dimension and I trust that mankind will learn how to minimize them. Even though “space tourism” may be seen as if it’s playing the leading actor in this technological revolution, I would argue that over time it could take on the supporting role. The inventions and discoveries that will be made in the process of enabling ordinary people to get to space can benefit humanity immensely. Will they be beneficial to the planet and other species as a whole? This is a question that I cannot answer, but for some reason my hope for progress increases when I think of the day that getting to space will become as simple as flying from Chile to China. Different conditions like gravity, temperature, pressure or unknown organisms enable scientists to make new experiments. Who knows? Could the medical cure to cancer, AIDS or diabetes be in space? On the other hand, could new diseases and contamination be brought to Earth?
In your opinion, will we witness safe space flights being launched often? What impact do you think this will have on our planet and on outer space? What could change in medicine, biology or science? Are we close to hearing about the first human being born in space? Looking forward to reading your thoughts in our comments section!
References
HNGN, (February, 2015). Virgin Galactic Remains Optimistic about Space Tourism, Says 2015 is the Year. Retrieved from: http://www.hngn.com/articles/66336/20150204/virgin-galactic-remains-optimistic-space-tourism-2015-year.htm
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, (October, 2014). Will Virgin Galactic’s Crash End Space Tourism? Retrieved from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141031-virgin-galactic-space-tourism-impacts/
WIKIPEDIA, (December, 2014). Virgin Galactic. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Galactic
WIKIPEDIA, (February, 2015). Space tourism. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tourism
Travel And Technology 
Great post Jaqueline. I would love to go into space and see if I can find ET :-)
I think we will see safe space travel one day. Commercial aviation encountered similar challenges with safety and put systems and protocols in place to improve safety (Heppenheimer, T. A., and Heppenheimer, T., 1995).
The impact on our planet may be negative in the short term with increased carbon emissions from space flights but in the long term I think travelers will return to earth with a deeper respect for the planet and the environment. Also advances in space flight technologies should be good for the environment as we may use less of the earth’s precious resources and start exploring and exploiting space resources.
The impact on outer space could be substantial with more humans flying around. Protocols would need to be put in place to manage waste from space flights. Flight paths would need to be established that don’t overlap any low orbiting satellites.
It will be interesting to see how space travel companies compete with each other. Will safety records, price and comfort be factors? Will we see a scenario like the James Bond movie (You Only Live Twice, 1967) where one company captures another aircraft in orbit? Unlikely but who knows!
References:
Heppenheimer, T. A., & Heppenheimer, T. (1995). Turbulent skies: the history of commercial aviation. J. Wiley & Sons.
You Only Live Twice (1967) [Motion picture]. Metro Goldwyn Mayer Home Entertainment.
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On the contrary to Marc’s comment and many other people who are dreaming about a space trip, I am not a part of this dream I am afraid.
“It was a paradise. I just came back from paradise” this is what Dennis Tito said, the first space tourist (The New York Times, 2001).
Even though he said that, I would not like to be one of the tourists travelling to space.
As Jacqueline mentioned, to date 7 people who were not professional astronauts went to space. Is it 7 or only 7? I do agree that they were not professional astronauts but they were not ordinary (average) people either. Except for being millionaires, they are all very intelligent and educated (most of them graduated from universities within the field of science, engineering or computer science). Some of them hold doctorates or professorial and were some way or another connected to a space subject. For example, Dennis Tito holds a Bachelor of Science in Astronautics and Aeronautics from New York University, a Master of Science in Engineering Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute satellite campus in Hartford, Connecticut. He also received an honorary doctorate of engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is a former scientist of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Another example is Richard Garriott who’s father Owen K. Garriott was a scientist and astronaut (Wikipedia, 2015).
Do you think that if I turned up at one of the space companies, saying that I will pay for a trip, that they would take me? I really doubt!
But coming back to my lack of willingness to travel to the space….There are number of reasons why I am not a fan of such an adventure. The first one and the most important one is safety.
For me space travel is not yet safe enough for tourists. I would not put my life at risk just to see space. You may not agree with me but if we only look at last year’s accidents, NASA Antares Rocket (Space.com, 2014) explosion on October 28th, a couple of days later the SpaceShip Two that Jacqueline mentioned above broke apart killing one pilot and injuring the second one, or this year’s explosion of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket on January 16th. Would you like to be one of the passengers or let’s call it “participants” of the above rockets? I don’t think so.
In my opinion accidents that involve commercial rockets have strongly underscored the high risks in any spaceflight. On the other hand the importance of space exploration (do not confuse with space tourism) is priceless. Even the famous quote from Stephen Hawking “I don’t think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I’m an optimist. We will reach out to the stars. “ (The Telegraph, 2001) confirms that we have to go to space in order to survive on Earth.
So definitely we not only should explore the space we must explore it!Regardless of high risks involved in travel to space there will always be people who will dream about getting there. I am just not one of them.
And on the last note….I am pretty sure you remember movie “Star Trek” and Mr Spock who was played by Leonard Nimoy. The actor died only a couple of weeks ago and he was “an inspiration to multiple generations of engineers, scientists, astronauts, and other space explorers” (NASA, 2015).
Also movie below is more than inspirational. The author is Erik Wernquist who is a digital artist and animator from Stockholm, Sweden. The movie is about the future but more importantly about planets on the Solar system including Earth. I won’t say more…just watch it, it is amazing!
Wanderers – a short film by Erik Wernquist from Erik Wernquist on Vimeo.
Maybe this is how our regular travel trips in the future will look like?
References:
The New York Times (2011). Space Tourist, Back From ‘Paradise,’ Lands on Steppes. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/07/world/space-tourist-back-from-paradise-lands-on-steppes.html
The Telegraph (2001). Colonies in space may be only hope, says Hawking. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1359562/Colonies-in-space-may-be-only-hope-says-Hawking.html
Space.com (2014). Antares Rocket Explosion: Full Coverage and Investigation.
Retrieved: http://www.space.com/27594-private-antares-rocket-explosion-full-coverage.html
Space.com (2015). See SpaceX’s Rocket Landing Crash Up Close with These Photos & Video. Retrieved: http://www.space.com/28295-spacex-rocket-landing-crash-photos-video.html
NASA (February 27, 2015). NASA Administrator Remembers Leonard Nimoy. Press Release15-029. Retrieved: http://www.nasa.gov/press/2015/february/nasa-administrator-remembers-leonard-nimoy/
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Great post Jaq, I would love to think that we will see commercial space trips become more accessible and safe. When I finally do win the Euro Millions, I would like to know that this option is there. I think the success of these ventures will depend on the money people are willing to spend and potentially the success of other non-commercial missions.
Assuming space flights do become a bigger industry, I believe regulation will become an important concern. Currently aircraft account for approximately two to five percent of the world’s C2 emissions, depending on the source (RASTOGI). With an increase in potential space flights it is important that this is kept in line with aircraft standards to preserve the environment.
Commercial space flights may also have a knock on effect to science and research. Organisations like NASA will also be able to avail of cheaper flights to help further their research. NASA currently relies on Russian rockets to transport their astronauts to and from different space stations and complexes. (CHOW)
All and all I believe commercial space flights are a great thing for science even if it may not be our generation that gets to see the real benefit from them.
1. Rastogi, Nina, (NOV, 20011). What’s the environmental impact of going into space?. Retrieved from: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2009/11/dirty_rockets.html
2. Chow,Denise, (JUNE, 2012). Commercial Space Travel May Bring Science Benefits, Advocates Say. Retrieved from: http://www.space.com/16228-nasa-commercial-human-spaceflight-benefits.html
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