Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two Crash: A Blow To Space Tourism?

Even though it is still beyond the reach of the average working class consumers, does the recent crash of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two represent a blow to “affordable” space tourism? 

By: Ringo Bones 

It was supposedly a routine test flight aimed to make space tourism closer to the masses but in ended in tragedy when in October 31, 2014 a Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two space tourism craft suffered a catastrophic failure after it separated from its mother ship White Knight Two and crashed moments later into the Mojave Desert below. Even though the crash is under further investigation to determine the cause of the tragedy according to Stuart Witt CEO of Mojave Spaceport, witnesses on the ground says that the craft appeared to be in pieces before it crashed to the floor of the Mojave Desert. One pilot was killed while the co-pilot is seriously injured. Virgin CEO Sir Richard Branson flew immediately to the crash site as soon as he heard the tragic news. Will the recent disaster represent a giant step back to “affordable” space tourism? 

Compared to the US government run NASA, private space travel and space tourism companies like Virgin with its Virgin Galactic space tourism program seems to be able to make viable space travel programs at a far lesser cost than government run counterparts. SpaceShip Two costs “only” 500 million US dollars to develop – a bargain compared to comparable spending made by similar NASA projects. While the Spaceship Two is slated to bring the first batch of space tourist to their “suborbital” destinations by 2015, there are 700 customers who already paid the ticket price of 250,000 US dollars already lining up for the experience including celebrities like Hollywood actor Tom Hanks and song-and-dance man Justin Beiber and also Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. 

By their very nature, our current spacecraft technology is inherently dangerous in their operation because they operate under the extremes of temperature and pressure. Like cryogenic fuels and oxidizers only tens of degrees above absolute zero fueling a rocket engine that runs at a temperature hot enough to vaporize steel. Not to mention reentry temperatures comparable to that of free-flowing magma. 

Space Tourism: Looking for Both Creek and Paddle?

Given our current on-going global economic downturn, does the future of space tourism look promising?


By: Ringo Bones


The sales pitch about the beauty of seeing our planet from 250 miles up (400 kilometers) in space has been the sales pitch of space tourism ever since its pioneering founders took it upon themselves to make the first fiscal steps. Oddly enough way back in time when then US President John F. Kennedy gave his speech about sending a man to the moon before the decade – 1960’s that is – is out. After almost 50 years, are we now closer to a viable space tourism industry?

Probably were still suffering from that 20th Century euphoria of our relatively swift progress on manned flight. It took way less than 50 years from the Wright brothers’ first flight at Kitty Hawk to the invention of the DC-3 which made affordable commercial – make that tourism – flights possible. As our current state of space tourism still preclude the participation of the casual tourist, will it ever progress from sending a few intrepid billionaires paying 25 million or so US dollars per launch to experience weightlessness to a relatively mundane mass tourism business phenomena?

Basing on recent developments on space commercialization and or possible space tourism, it looks like the United States will have to settle for second place. Back in December 31, 2008, the Scottish National party is calling for a disused RAF airbase in Moray to become the UK’s first commercial spaceport. Together with Virgin Galactic, the RAF Lossiemouth site will probably serve as the birthplace of relatively affordable space flights for the average Joe intrepid enough (probably also financially well-healed) to experience weightlessness or who just want to see first-hand the beauty of planet Earth as seen from space. Even though all of this is too tempting to be ignored by the travel and tourism industry, will space tourism ever become a viable commercial enterprise given that our present “conventional” tourism industry is currently threatened by the global economic downturn?

Even though the global credit crunch will probably delay the establishment of a fiscally viable space tourism industry by a few years, its obvious unique selling points is just too tempting to not be exploited by the world’s established travel and tourism companies. Even though space commercialization via satellite launching services is already a viable private business enterprise for over 20 years, the revenue generated by space tourism or space travel by paying private individuals is still small in comparison to its bigger sibling. Not just to let anyone experience the novelty of weightlessness, it could also provide opportunity for amateur astronomers to see interesting celestial phenomena from the vantage point of low Earth orbit. Imagine a telescope-equipped space tourism “bus” where amateur astronomers can charter for a reasonable fee to witness a total eclipse of the Sun from Earth orbit. Not to mention the other “mundane” experiments that can only be performed in weightless conditions. All of which can be classified under “ignore at your own peril” to the world’s established travel and tourism industry.