Commercialization and space tourism

Over time, billionaires, and private companies have changed the future of space travel and publicized it. Before, NASA would do most of their work in-house and would develop technologies slowly. However, it has been private companies that have made the most advances in space travel, such as reusable rocketry. It has been private companies that have been building rockets to fly people to suborbital heights. These ventures by private companies have certainly been noticed by the public. The U.S. government has also noticed, as former president (Jenkins, Jr.).

Future space tourism plans

Over the recent years, space tourism has become a growing industry thanks to the cost reductions being carried out by private companies like SpaceX. So far, most of the space tourism is flying suborbital flights, with only a few minutes being in actual space, this still provides a spectacular view. But is still pricey, with Virgin Galactic’s flights costing around $200,000 to $250,000 per ticket. In the future, there are even plans for eventually flying by the moon, Mars, or even building space hotels in Low Earth Orbit. There are also benefits to science, because of the relatively cheap cost of building and refueling the missions, it would allow scientists to afford to do more scientific research. Space tourism can also provide benefits for businesses, by allowing cheap space flights, it could become the backbone of a future space economy (Botkin-Kowaki).

Space exploration takes a lot of risks. However, there are many great rewards to be had. One of the main benefits is the technological innovations it has unlocked. There have, and will be many more, technological advancements due to space exploration by passing on its knowledge to the private sector. This commercialization has resulted in the development of products and services across many industries. An example is medical research, space can be used to find how cellular organisms react in microgravity environments. We must use space to advance our scientific research and develop a greater understanding of space, and ourselves (Agha).