Share the post "Space tourism. Is it an entertainment of billionaires or can it become available for ordinary people?"
The technology of space and flying into space has been developing rapidly in the last decades, mostly thanks to private companies. For example, SpaceX has a bunch of achievements it accomplished as a private space exploration corporation: it is the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft; the first private company to send humans into orbit; first reuse and re-flight of a crewed space capsule. Also, the summer of 2021 saw the space race between two billionaires, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson who were probably the greatest popularisers of the topic of space at that time. Both of them and Elon Musk believe in the yet-to-be-discovered potential of space and space tourism and continue to invest billions in the exploration of space and the technologies related to it.
However, there are still many caveats and pitfalls that need to be discussed and resolved before commercialized space travel can become a common option as airplane travel now is.
First, as of now, it is astronomically expensive for a regular person to travel into space: seats aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard and Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo typically cost between $250,000 and $500,000. More expensive flights to true orbit, which is significantly higher in altitude, can cost more than $50 million for each seat. The main reason for such a high cost is that it is very expensive to launch a rocket into space, it costs about $50 million for SpaceX to launch its Falcon 9 rocket. Compare this to the $1000 per hour needed to operate a small jet plane. Nevertheless, since the first time airplanes started flying into the air, it was also an exclusive luxury to travel using this machine, but I believe that now every person reading this blog has at least once traveled using an airplane. So, as the space travel industry develops further, and more people start to demand its services, the price will eventually come down, and it will be more available to the general public. However, the terms when this happens are still unclear.
Also, people traveling into space have to come through some sort of training and need to be physically fit for such a journey. Tourists will need to participate in a multi-day training program including pilot briefings and spacesuit fits to get ready for Virgin Galactic’s three-hour journeys, for instance. A quick instructional and safety session will be necessary for trips on zero-pressure balloons.
To conclude, there are many obstacles preventing space tourism from becoming common, but the further developments in this area can make it available for the general public.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/07/travel/space-travel-tourism.html
I personally think that the price of space tourism will not go any lower for a long time. Until the technology is developed enough and has become mainstream, just like aircraft, only the richest will be able to get a trip to outer space.
I am not even sure if we’ll be able to see this type of traveling getting more popular in our lifetime. Although it sounds amazing and it seems that these companies are getting better, we can still count the number of completed space tourist travels on one hand.
Today special attention is paid to the future space travel technologies which will give an opportunity to travel in the outer space rather frequently. I think it will be a long time before space travel becomes publicly available. Technology is developing at a rapid pace, but still, for most, space travel is now beyond the limits of possibilities. Maintaining the functioning of aircraft is expensive and is unlikely to become significantly cheaper. This is a hobby for the richest, and the task of companies is profit. No one is so interested yet to make a trip to outer space an affordable entertainment for an ordinary person. It seems to me that we have not yet reached that stage of development.
I believe that space tourism has the potential to become a more accessible sector in the future, but there are other challenges that must be addressed first, such as the high cost and severe physical requirements of space flight. The cost of space travel will most likely reduce over time as the industry matures and demand grows, however it is unclear when this will occur. Travelers must also undergo training and be in good physical shape in order to participate in space travel. Personally, I would love to experience all of the trainings included and space journey as a cherry on top of it.
Unfortunately, at this stage in the development of mankind, space tourism is a luxury of the rich, I agree. However, the development of the space industry and the greater involvement of large companies will help in the development of space tourism more strongly. Because there is no doubt that somewhere in the future space tourism will be a certain success. Where people will not need to spend a lot of money on it financially, but also be less physically prepared for such flights, given future development technologies.
Space tourism is something I would like to experience in my life, but it cannot be denied that it is still entertainment for really rich people. Honestly, it’s hard to even determine the pace at which this technology will develop, as it is invariably dictated by people’s interest like in any other industry. We can predict but the future will be a mystery anyway.