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Two New Space Tourists Announced
jfoust writes "Reuters is reporting that the space tourism company Space Adventures has signed up two Americans, at $20 million each, to fly on future Soyuz missions to the ISS. No details about who these people are, other than one is a 38-year-old male Manhattan real estate developer. One will fly in 2004 and the other in 2005. If you haven't quite saved up the $20 million yet, don't worry, the company is still looking for at least two additional tourists for flights through 2007..."
I imagine they would sign some sort of "I will not sue you, and my family won't sue you if I die in a horrible accident." kinda contract. But will that really prevent family from trying to sue later?
Then again, I don't think an insurance policy exists that you could buy for this sort of thing. And it wouldn't make sense anyway since the very concept of insurance requires lots of people to buy into the system.
Maybe the people running it go up into space each time as well, that way if there is a horrible accident and the client/s die, they die too and don't have to worry about litigation.
This sort of business gives new meaning to extreme sports do at your own stupid risk activity. Add that to the expense and this is truely the sport of kings.
Nobody died when Nixon lied.
I'm meeting you half way you stupid hippies!
Maybe Lance Bass can still hitch a one way ticket to nowhere.
On the other hand.. I have an cutout scan from a newspaper(1956) about a London travel company taking reservations to the moon for the year 2040. Cost? Just 12,000 quid.
I thought they had until the end of 2004 to claim the prize? I mean, really, Armadillo Aerospace has been planning on launching something in January for testing to compete for the X-prize. Why would they still be planning on competing for the X-prize if launching a test in January would already be too late? (I also remember reading it, but I checked the X-prize site and couldn't find it, other than a reference in the FAQ to the fact that they think it is likely someone will do it before January '05)
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You know that they're going to have to waive every form of liability under the sun before they get anywhere near the thing. Not only them, but every relative unto the fourth cousin twice removed will have to sign, too. Probably current employeers, past employeers for the past 10 years, and any company the "astroballast" might potentially work for in the future will have to agree.
However, all things considered, it's probably safe enough. Sad to say, the Russians have the better safety record. They've already launched a tourist successfully, while America lost one of the two we launched. (Or was it three?)
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Yeah, 20 million probably is better spent on charity or invested into some life saving research. However, it is a tad hypocritical for most people to make such a statement. I know I bought myself a new computer that I didn't need. The only difference between my selfish act and these space tourists is magnitude. If a rich guy wants to blow 20 million on a life's dream, more power to him. I would do the same thing in his position.
If it is any consolation, it very could lead to some greater benefit for mankind. These first few spending money on something so expensive and risky very well could encourage someone somewhere to develop better spaceflight for the purpose of tourism. Even if you don't consider cheaper space tourism as a benefit for humankind, things learned the development of the industry could benefit humankind.
One of the brighter sides of capitalism is that even selfish acts can lead to improving the greater good, even if it is just an accidental consequence of someone's selfish desires.
...but who the hell cares? Does this actually benefit humanity in any way, shape or form? I totally doubt that two space tourists are going to make space holidays or astrofaring more accessible for the rest of us. I'd just wait for private enterprise in general to catch up; as it is, this is just money which could be spent more productively.
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No, the parent is plain wrong. The costs of getting to space will never "catch up" until long after we all have our own tiny submarines, garaged hovercraft, and nanotech housekeepers. Using this logic, we should all have flown on the Concorde after 5 years or so... didn't happen.
As hard as it is to believe, escape velocity is expensive, friends! If the spurrious parent argument's held water, then we would already be there, no? Yuri Gagarin first flew in space over 4 DECADES ago, and I still don't see a Walmart on the moon....
Blah blah blah blah blah.
Every time one of these articles pops up, we have self-righteous idiots saying what a waste it is, and wouldn't it be better to give that twenty million dollars to starving children in Africa or the local hospital?
We don't go around telling you what to do with that twenty you have in your pocket. It's his money. Understand that concept? He owns that money and he can do whatever he wants to do with it within the law. If he wants to get it in $100 bills and have a bonfire, that's his right. If he wants to spend it on expensive cars which he then crushes with a wrecking ball, that's his right. If he wants to fund a dot-com startup with no business plan, that's his right. If he wants to go to the space station for a week, and somebody's willing to take him there, that's his right.
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