People have long dreamed of travelling to space and beyond. From many space movies to iconic television shows and novels, civilian space travel has been an ongoing topic for some time. With many films like Interstellar, Gravity, and Star Wars, there hasn’t been a greater yearning to travel to space among the masses. Many space companies are competing to achieve the goal of making private space travel possible. Elon Musk's SpaceX, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are some of the most prominent players on the field.
On July 11, the Virgin Galactic made a giant leap forward toward commercial suborbital spaceflight. The company launched the first fully crewed flight of its SpaceShipTwo spacecraft Unity with a particular passenger onboard: its billionaire founder Richard Branson. He teamed up with Sirisha Bandla and Colin Bennett to secure their astronaut wings following the successful launch and landing of the Unity 22 mission. The whole group shared their joy after returning to Earth, popping bottles of Champagne, with Branson even lifting Bandla over his shoulders. "It was just magical," Branson said during the event following the flight, which was the fourth rocket-powered spaceflight of Virgin Galactic. "I feel like I'm still in space," he added later during a press conference after the launch. "Welcome to the beginning of the new space age," he said. They took off from the company's home port of Spaceport America in New Mexico, with the whole launch being broadcast live.
The Genesis of a New Space Race?
The flight by the Virgin Galactic aircraft came almost a week before Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft is set to make a crewed suborbital test flight with its founder, Jeff Bezos. This has raised speculations among space enthusiasts of a "race" developing among the billionaire's Musk, Bezos. Branson to get to space before the other, as well as to enable fully-fledged civilian space travel possible. However, Branson previously dismissed the rumours and continued to do so after Virgin Galactic’s maiden voyage. "It wasn't a race," he said. " We're just delighted that everything went exceptionally well. We wish Jeff the absolute best and the people going up with him during his flight." In the spirit of support among private space companies, Branson added that SpaceX founder Elon Musk appeared at 3 a.m. to show his support. "So nice of him to come all this way to wish us well.", Branson added. He also stated that Bezos also sent him a "goodwill message." Bezos also shared a post on his personal Instagram wishing luck for Branson, followed by a repost from Blue Origin. This high-profile launch by Virgin Galactic and the upcoming flight by Blue Origin is one of the latest developments to launch an era of civilian space tourism. It is hoped that it will instil confidence in the upcoming missions and satisfy yearnings from childhood. Whatever the case may be, people are ready for the future.
The “Space Race” sparks up a debate:
While this supposed race has got many excited, some aren’t too thrilled with it. This shift to privatization of commercial spaceflight hasn’t just put these private space companies at the forefront of scientific achievements—it’s accelerated the push for space tourism programs, which come with exorbitant prices, affordable only to the ultrawealthy individuals. Blue Origin auctioned a seat for its upcoming voyage for a staggering $28 million dollars, which was met with criticism by some individuals. There is talk about luxury hotels in space. Orbital Assembly Corp announced plans earlier this year for a 280-guest hotel called Voyager Station, which it said would open in 2027. The company hopes to work with SpaceX as a partner for the project. Moreover, some feel that this enormous spending is happening when the COVID pandemic is still causing mass deaths and the heat waves around the world that are causing the global warming rates to reach dangerous new levels. Some also point out that these billionaires interested in space must first address the problem of poverty on Earth. Six billion dollars - that's the money it would take to save the 41 million people who are set to perish this year worldwide - according to UN World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley. Beasley also tweeted urging Musk, Branson and Bezos to fight world hunger, stating he believes they could solve it quickly. There’s also a widely shared petition on change.org stating that Bezos be barred from returning to Earth. The petition has collected more than 150,000 signatures. The petitioner also said, “Billionaires should not exist . . . on earth, or in space, but should they decide the latter, they should stay there.” It is true. At the present moment, space flight is not very useful. Space can kill people, so keeping one person alive and working in space requires a team of professionals, enormous sums of money, and other impressive engineering marvels in human history, from spacecraft design to space toilets. In exchange, we mostly get - a person or a crew in space. Also, at the moment, Bezos’ Blue Origin and Branson’s Virgin Galactic will send people in space for minutes, not even days. But one can say the same thing about virtually everything that mankind has achieved to date. History is filled with people and nations who failed countless times before finally succeeding. Every person alive today is an heir to the world's explorers, innovators, and geniuses who dared to achieve despite the odds. And all the new inventions, discoveries, and breakthroughs since the discovery of fire and the invention of wheels were undoubtedly brought down upon by some people who rendered them useless.
The expediency of government-funded space programs is a level which no private business can equal to. The downside of these programs is that they are restricted by political considerations, such as whether some of the significant components are built in an important congressional district, or the rocket launchings taking place are among the important issues of voters. If it is not a key election issue, it may not get the interest or supervision which is required. This is the reason why what these space industries are doing matters immensely. They can’t match the budget of NASA; hence they settle for lesser ambitions and work towards making it economical. SpaceX made the world’s first reusable rocket, which brought down the costs hugely. Feats like this matter hugely in the industry, as they keep the people invigorated in such matters, and take mankind forward. Such achievements are a great platform for the kind of incremental innovation that eventually transformed the Wright Brothers’ motorized box kite into a Boeing 737, Karl Benz’s gasoline-powered tricycle into a sleek C-class, and Jobs and Wozniak’s Apple, started in a garage, into a $2 billion company. That is the kind of innovation that private entities tend to do better than government, as they face more continuous competitive pressures from rivals to make it faster, farther, and economical for the people. It would be rude of us to assume that we are the only civilization in the cosmos. If humanity will eventually reach the stars, this kind of innovation will be a vital part of how we reach that position, even if now, most of us can’t quite notice it.
Well written and quite informative