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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.
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!
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.
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.
Simony went up on a Soyuz. We're not talking about the same thing with Brin. If things go as planned he'll get there via a privately owned and operated flight. It will still be a Soyuz but it won't be owned and operated by any government agency. Hence it's the first private spaceflight.
You're acting like the Russians are just going to take his dollars and burn them in a furnace, or that somehow those dollars are going to be taken out of circulation, never to be used for anything ever again.
Realize that his $30 million is going to be spent by the Russians; on the development of new technology, on fuel (and hence, on employees of the energy companies), on paying engineers and scientists; on all the things required to maintain a space program.
If you want to support an industry - and most people on slashdot probably believe the space industry is one worth supporting - the best thing you can do is to buy their product. That's exactly what he's doing.
Nemilar http://www.techthrob.com - Visit Me!
Well, to be honest, it isn't your money to spend. The man busted his ass to give him self the life he wanted. If he wants to spend his money by taking a rediculously expensive vacation, then good for him. Richard Garriot has done a lot in revolutionizing one of the biggest markets on the gamefront with his ideas and I can guarantee you he deserves it. I have worked with him in Austin on the UO project and he deserves it. [/end opinionated rantflame]
According to google.org Google has donated $33 milion from AdSense adverts to more than 850 nonprofit organisations in 10 countries throught the world.
The Make-A-Wish foundation has received more than 25% of all the online donations from Google.
Google has given more than 30% of all the yearly donations to the Doctors without borders program.
Google has also donated to the Grameen Foundation located in the US and $2 mils to the OLPC project...
Read more here[insert lame sig here]
Earth or not, the geek are sure inheriting space!
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It'll be flown by a Russian commander, out of the Russian launch complex in Balkinour.
Call it whatever makes you feel warm and fuzzy, but it's a Russian rocket, piloted by a Russian commander, launched out of a Russian spaceport. I guarantee you communications are run through Korolev. Space Adventures purchased a flight, not the flight hardware. This is not privatized space travel. Look to small companies in the southeast US - SpaceX, XCOR, Armadillo, Blue Origin if you want to see "private spaceflight"
It's not like the money just vanishes into thin air, you know. Sergei gives it to someone else, who ends up giving it to someone else, who gives it to someone else, who gives it to someone else... and so the economy rolls on. You could argue that spending the money does a lot more good for society than just leaving it in the bank.
BTW, why are you sitting there reading Slashdot when you could be volunteering at your local homeless shelter?
Breakfast served all day!
Sergey Brin's net worth is reported at $18.7 billion dollars. That $30 million ticket is 0.16% of his net worth.
If you have a $200K net worth, e.g. investments, home equity, etc..., that space flight ticket is the equivalent of you buying a PS3.
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.
Perhaps its easier for Google to fire Brin into space with a Canon Point-and-Shoot to update those ever changing Google Earth maps...
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.
Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion. -Francis Bacon