Going Private: The Promise and Danger of Space Travel
A flurry of space tourism milestones and announcements in recent days signals that human spaceflight is shifting from governments to the private sector, space experts say.
After years of promises, the industry is suddenly blossoming. Yet as regular folks thunder into the unknown, risk will likely grow.
Commercial zero-gravity jaunts became available for the first time this month. A successful manned space flight took place yesterday. And earlier this week, entrepreneurs announced a $50 million prize for the first private orbiting vessel, as well as public flights into space as early as 2007.
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The big unknown in all this may be the extent to which people really want pay for joy rides off the planet. It appears there will soon be no shortage of tickets to buy.
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Ultimately, according to analysts and entrepreneurs, it could be asteroid mining or planetary migration that would support the private spaceflight industry, rather than merely thrill-seeking.
"I'm excited, but I'm cautious," Tumlinson said, of this year's private human spaceflight activity. "I think this time we may have something real, we have a lot of momentum building."
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Going Private: The Promise and Danger of Space Travel
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