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Google's Brin Books a Space Flight
coondoggie writes "Google largely conquered the Earth — now it is taking aim at space. At least co-founder Sergei Brin is. Brin today said he put down $5 million toward a flight to the International Space Station in 2011.
Brin's space travel will be brokered by Space Adventures, the space outfit that sent billionaire software developer Charles Simonyi to the station in 2007. Computer game developer (and son of a former NASA astronaut) Richard Garriott is currently planning a mission to the ISS in October 2008. Garriott is paying at least $30 million to launch toward the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz spaceship according to Space Adventures." Make sure to wave when you are over Michigan, man. I'll be the one on my lawn, green with envy.
While this may sound like a nice adventure, going into space, if I had a billion, its the last thing I would ever want to do, because it is so risky. There are a million things that can go wrong, space flight has a high rate of occurance of accidents, when you are in orbit, as well, there is not much anyone on ground can do to help you when you get into trouble. So certainly, it is a huge gamble, and not one I would be comfortable with.
Google is now just one step closer to founding the Copernicus Center,... ;-)
Kinda offsets driving a Prius, doesn't it?
In Soviet Russia bright red will blend you man.
Richard Garriott will be America's first 2nd generation astronaut and will be onboard with Russia's first 2nd generation cosmonaut - Sergey Volkov. A great way to express the new space age of international cooperation.
I'm glad to see that Lord British has $30 million dollars to his name that he can blow on this. I wish he would buy Origin back and make another game worth playing.
How do we calculate MPG? Sure, it's a shitload of fuel just to go 213 miles up (*), but then you can coast for ~3 million miles!
Chalk me up on someone who is quite jealous of S. Brin over this! I mean the vast richest he has _earned_ is of no concern to me. The fact that he gets to not only go into space, but he gets to be tagged with being the first person in space via a private venture is enough to make even the modest geek envious. Thanks for helping the door for the rest of us to follow you through in the future though.
;) - Then again, who doesn't?
I hope to follow the same path someday and pay for myself to float around for a few days in space
Invexi - a Phoenix, AZ based web design and web development company.
Oh yea duh... but waiting for all the modules to be installed should make it even more fun. I wonder what it would cost to make a space walk? Gotta get going on that web3.0 killer app.
yeah I know it's off-topic- I just hate seeing billionaire hypocrites lauded as heroes.
It would be great if he would spend at least a comparable amount of money to plant trees or something else to help the environment for the amount of CO2 and other pollution he's going to cause to be put into the atmosphere.
... We are so involved in our own little lives and our own little concerns and problems. I don't think the average person realizes the global environment that we really live in. I certainly am more aware of how fragile our Earth is, and, frankly, I think that I care more about our Earth because of the experiences I've had traveling in space."
I guess he has the right to pollute all he wants, but launching yourself into orbit dwarfs the effect on the environmental most people would ever cause. People get the value of protecting the Earth from viewing it from space. Usually that perspective ends up happening afterward. I hope Brin gets it beforehand.
"...From up there, it looks finite and it looks fragile and it really looks like just a tiny little place on which we live in a vast expanse of space. It gave me the feeling of really wanting us all to take care of the Earth. I got more of a sense of Earth as home, a place where we live. And of course you want to take care of your home. You want it clean. You want it safe."
-- Winston Scott, two-time shuttle astronaut
"You change because you see your life differently than when you live on the surface everyday.
-- Eileen Collins, first female space shuttle commander.
I'm sure he has friends who read Slashdot. If you are one of them, could you ask him to think and do something about how his actions will affect the rest of us?
If you live in Michigan and still have a front lawn that hasn't washed away, consider yourself lucky.
$30 million to go into space. Yea, it's a great adventure [for him], but do you know how much good you could do with that money? I won't bother to seach the web for how many children he could feed or how many mosquito nets he could purchase, but it shames me to think how much good that money could do instead of giving him a slight adrenaline rush and a story for his grandkids. I'm sure someone will reply with a "relative" comment regarding money I and others who are less fiscally successful spend on things like MMOG's and flat panels, but on a person-by-person basis that's a very small chunk compared to the giant barrel of money he's giving away here.
I'm jealous and also quite in awe of how brave people are to venture into space. Some sobering stats on manned space flight: 18 of the 430 people who've ventured into space didn't make it back alive. Of course, quite a few astronauts and cosmonauts have flown more than once, but I calculate that the shuttle's overall fatality rate is running at around 1.8%. IOW, the chance of dying is about the same as my chance of winning $10 in this week's 6/49 Lotto. I hope he has a fantastic trip and that he blogs about his experience.
Would I be willing to venture into space if given the chance? I'm not sure. I'd love to have the opportunity to consider it, though.
It's not Futurama yet. I hope these tourists get bored of the dark space in there and come back $30m poorer.
I thought the Russians announced that they were no longer doing the space tourism gig, and that space tourism was going to be the realm of private industry from that point forward.
I know he's booking through a separate agency, but the Russians are still hauling the meat in the seat.
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
I would go in a heartbeat. It isn't financially possible for me (yet) but given the chance - I'd go.
There's a 4.1% chance of dying (thanks to the editable Wikipedia).
In perspective, police officers have a 3.06% chance of being injured or killed.
I enjoy life but it isn't for the weak. I've climbed mountains, swam in shark water, explored 3rd world countries alone, camped in the jungle, explored the remote regions of Alaska.
I've almost died many times. If I ever did die, my family would understand I enjoy life and understood the risks. I can't live a life of safety and comfort. That's just existing.
captcha: careen
D~y
Earth or not, the geek are sure inheriting space!
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I'm sorry...Google 'largely conquered Earth'? WTF is that supposed to mean?
This story desperately needed to be rejected before it got this far. Just because it says Google doesn't mean it should be posted.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
It can be a total advertising gimmick and money-shuffling scam, just like any other activity. However, the concept carbon offsets, and any deceit promulgated in its name, is based on is valid.
Carbon dioxide is a globally well-mixed gas. Hence, removing CO2 from the atmosphere at any point on the planet balances out adding CO2 to the atmosphere at any other point on the planet. How, and even if, that CO2 removal is accomplished is where the duplicity & deceitfulness comes into play.
CO2 physically removed ("captured") from the atmosphere, e.g. GRT's ACCESS system, is wholly different than campaigns to plant a tree (short term organic storage) or invest in solar/wind/etc... R&D (high potential of flaky accounting). There is also the case of outright fraud, where money is taken & no service performed.
Carbon offsets are the stopgap for the fact that change takes time and an acknowledgment that you are creating a mess and paying to clean it up.
What does it mean that the Brin Books are a space flight??
I'd think if Lord British wanted to go into space, he'd just use a moongate
I think that the revenue from the tourists is a good thing. It helps keep the Russian space program going, which will be the only way to get to/from the station for 5+ years after 2010.
Well Taco, you should have sold your VA stock right after the IPO then.
(I keed. I Keed.)
Up to the turn of the century about as many people summited Everest and went into space with a similar fatality rate. With pampered guided tours recently, the Everest summits are about triple.
Better spend the money now before the government takes it away.
If I had the money, I might do it, but since I don't...what an egomaniacal, opulent ass.
Looks like Brin will be soon backing a brand new awesome Linux distribution.
Whoa, when did the IIS become a space hotel? Are the russians kicking out real sceintists so they can jam a billionaire in there for a quick infusion of cash? How is that in the spirit of space research and exploration?
Very cool that Brin is taking the flight. I suppose the financial comparison is something like me splurging on going skydiving.
For some reason I refuse to use either spell check or the spacebar properly.
I could not find a reference to where the quote came from, can any one point me at the source ?
Perhaps its easier for Google to fire Brin into space with a Canon Point-and-Shoot to update those ever changing Google Earth maps...
NASA has let non-astronauts into space. Rather than selling these positions, NASA has sought citizens with a special slant. One was a Senator. Two were teachers( one didnt quite make it, and one converted into a full-fledge astronaut). And there was a slot for a journalist/author/poet that I dont think was ever realized after the accidents.
When he gets up there and realizes that he can't make the world move in any direction he wants like he can using Google Earth.
Money obtained through questionable means is often spent in questionable ways. Extremely wealthy people tend to believe that they have earned the right to do anything they want, no matter the circumstances of their wealth. Don't think for a moment that they consider themselves the same as us lowly peasants. If anything, the view from space will reinforce their grandiose beliefs.
For instance, now you get only one carry-on bag free of charge. Any extra bags cost $100,000 apiece.
You no longer get free beverage service on the shuttle. Soft Drinks are $3,000 each, beer and wine $5,000 and mixed drinks are $10,000.
If you want an in-flight magazine, that'll be an extra $4,000.
Pretty soon, only the really wealthy or business customers will be flying to the ISS, at these prices.
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
I for one, welcome our new Google Space Overlords.
Ah yes, the trickle down Reagonimics.
The inverse of this is how a $600 check from the government to all tax payers will revitalize the entire US economy.
the share holders, AdSense users, & Google fans who actually made this possible. We bought the stock, clicked the clicks, read the ads, handed over our personal information to put this executive in orbit.
You are aware that capitalism relates to communism like a (centrally) planned economy relates to democracy?
I.e. not at all really?
Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion. -Francis Bacon
Nice. He won't even have to learn Russian. I heard that's a requirement on the ISS - to know at least a few basic phrases. And seeing that he holds an advanced degree, he won't have any trouble doing the actual work, which is another requirement. And he's not very heavy.
Richard, o Richard! Where are you?
OK... so it ain't Mars. (yet)
But at least it's a start!
Brin takes my bait!
Richard! You gonna let him do this to you? And me?
.
- aqk
F U
Theory of indulgences: somebody somewhere is doing good, you've got money, why don't you buy a bit of excess "good" with your money. (The excess "good" was Jesus' "Treasury of Merit", on the theory that since he was basically infinitely good you couldn't tap him out just by drawing out a finite amount to expiate your sin of choice.)
Theory of carbon offsets: somebody somewhere is doing good, you've got money, why don't you buy a bit of excess "good" with your money.
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
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