It was inevitable that the super rich would go on a Grand Tour of the cosmos like they did to classical Europe in the 19th Century.
Jeff Bezos and his brother are taking a drive into the heavens in their own rocket, Blue Origin. Is it the start of Prime in space?
I wonder if they'll bump into Elon Musk and Dickie Branson zooming round up there!
What do you think about the rich in space?
While commercial ventures such as these may increase the pace of space research, I feel it is a very polluting way to be a tourist!
ReplyDeleteunfortunately, I think the prevalence of big companies moving into space travel will result in the first commercial space accident. There is too much of a race to be first, even more so than during the sixties and this drive for exposure and revenue will cause an accident. Look at all the astronauts and engineers who have been lost over the years by NASA and the USSR, who both put much more effort into development, over a much longer period. Space is fundamentally dangerous and deadly to human life, so its inevitable that lives will be lost.
ReplyDeleteAgreed - cost-cutting capitalists such as these should never delve into incredibly complex, inherently dangerous technologies like this. Look what happened when General Electric "cheaped out" with their BWR (Boiling Water Reactor) design for Nuclear Reactors!
DeleteEspecially when you have showboating exercises like Musk and his convertible!
ReplyDeleteIt all seems a bit gimmicky to me. Let's not forget, it's a big difference between getting 50 miles or so above the Earth's surface and reaching orbit, let alone actually going somewhere!
ReplyDeleteMaybe one day our 4 nearest planets will be renamed: Musk, Bezos, Branson and Zuckerberg! Ot maybe they'd insist on the big gas giants!
ReplyDelete