Space Tourism - A Viable Industry?

You could say that if the birth of spaceflight had a date it would be April 28, 2001. On that date Dennis Tito became the world’s first space tourist, which he had paid $20 million dollars for a ticket to the international space station (Wall, 2011). Since that date there has been 6 more space tourists that have gone through different agencies and paid different prices for their flights (Wall, 2011). One of the biggest hurdles for space tourism is obviously the cost, if the cost can be lowered drastically then the use of space tourism could be great. An accomplishment that could be a result of space tourism is the development of hypersonic travel (Hollingham, 2014).

As far as rules and regulations go toward space tourism, they are very lax outside of the training that a passenger must undergo to be on the flight. They are basically getting written consent from the passenger letting them know that there is a risk. The flight crew on the other hand must have the proper training to take care of the passengers during space flight and must also be certified to fly the spacecraft (Superville, 2005). These rules and regulations were developed in 2005 due to the increased talk of developing space tourism as an actual attraction (Superville, 2005). I think that there needs to be much more restriction in this new industry. It seems as thought the government has passed the situation into the hands of the FAA and they are going to look at it from a reactive approach. The FAA won’t make a rule or regulation until something almost goes wrong or something does go wrong and many people are killed in the process.

I think space tourism will take off very quickly once a stable spacecraft can be developed. I don’t think that the general public will be able to touch space tourism until at least 10 years from now, and even then it would be equivalent in price to taking a three week long trip to tour Europe. Once the FAA can manage it properly I think that it will turn into a commercial type venture, as in it will be a fast yet more expensive way to travel. There could also be extended trips into space, which could be considered a one-time “bucket list” adventure.

The qualifications from a management position to work in the space tourism industry are basic understandings of knowing how to run a lucrative business (Livingston, 2001). Also knowing how to handle your finances and making the proper business adjustments to changing economy. The qualifications from a pilot’s point of view are that they must have a pilot’s license, and be trained up to the rules and regulations set forth by the FAA governing space tourism.

References

Wall, M. (2011). First space tourist: How a U.S. millionaire bought a ticket to orbit. Space.com. Retrieved from http://www.space.com/11492-space-tourism-pioneer-dennis-tito.html

Hollingham, R. (2014, April 8). Six reasons why space tourism matters. BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140408-six-reasons-space-tourism-matters

Superville, D. (2005, December 30). Gov't issues proposed space tourism rules. Associated Press. Retrieved from http://www.space.com/1904-gov-issues-proposed-space-tourism-rules.html

Livingston, D. (2001, August 26). Space tourism after Dennis Tito. Space Future. Retrieved from http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/space_tourism_after_dennis_tito.shtml