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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.
Kinda offsets driving a Prius, doesn't it?
In Soviet Russia bright red will blend you man.
Good thing space exploration isn't in your hands, then.
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
And that is one reason you do not have a billion.
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!
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]
Living is about what you experience. Everyone's risk-to-experience tolerance is different. Some people only feel alive and free when they sky dive, while others think it's a silly risk. Some people have full and happy lives doing nothing more than playing scrabble. Space travel is a huge risk for an amazing experience that only a handful of humans have. You could die, but the dead don't feel regret for failing to take a chance on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.