The space tourism business gained significant momentum Wednesday, when Boeing announced that it had officially entered the race. Flights launched out of Cape Canaveral to the International Space Station could begin as early as 2015. These flights are intended to bring up NASA astronauts into orbit. Both Boeing and Bigelow Aerospace won an $18 million contract to privatise such operations. With NASA's current plans calling for four crew member missions, the proposed seven man capsule would leave three seats available for space tourists. This will be a huge step forward in getting sustained space tourism legitimized. Space Adventures, based out of Virginia, will market the seats for Boeing. This is the same company that arranged for the previous private Russian flights. Eric C. Anderson, co-founder and chairman of Space Adventures, said "We're ready now to start talking to prospective customers." Which shows intended motivation to make this happen sooner than most realize.
The biggest hurtle now seems to be the authorization bill written by the House Science and Technology Committee. This version provides only $150 million a year over the next three years for the private-sector space travel initiative (commercial crew). Chairman of the Space Frontier Foundation Bob Werb said, "I think it's awful. It's leaving NASA with way more pork than program. I see that as a disaster for the agency." His group is advocating disapproval toward Congressional representatives over this bill. However, President Obama's budget for NASA focuses on companies that will compete to drive the cost of space flight down and will provide the space tourist community with more adequate resources ( $6 billion over five years for the commercial crew program). This privatised market, where astronauts would just buy tickets like at the airport, would free up more capitol so NASA could shift gears from space shuttle flights toward deep space missions and new technologies.
I feel that commercial space flight is the next step forward for the human race. Along with a new industry and fanciful space vacations, a new era of discovery and opportunity will arise allowing for a spark of freedom, adventure, and optimism to ignite a fire of greatness within us all.
NY Times - Boeing Plans to Fly Tourists to Space
I think that space trips would be an amazing experience. People travel all over the world, so it just makes sense that traveling to space would be something that was in our future. It would provide people with a unique and awesome experience.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. Imagine being able to tell your friends and relatives you went to outer space? That would be a time in your life you could never forget. It might be a little costly at first, but I feel that it would be worth it. There is so much to learn about space travel.
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