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Russian Firm Plans Commercial Space Station
astroengine writes "Buoyed by plans for commercial space taxis, a Russian company plans to build and launch a privately owned outpost in orbit for tourists, scientists and other paying visitors. RSC Energia, which designed and built the Russian modules of the International Space Station, is partnering with Russian commercial space startup Orbital Technologies to manufacture the new hub, currently known as Commercial Space Station."
True, but how many people actually go on deep sea exploration, fly their own airplanes, etc (relative to the general populous)...without it being their job or being funded by some large agency that is ultimately underwritten by some tax base somewhere or some mega wealthy philanthropist? At this current juncture, how to does commercializing space benefit mankind? I'm not sure myself, maybe it's good, maybe it's bad. It's easy to talk big and think big, especially wrt space, but I think this is a lot "bigger" than most people realize....
While we're busy launching a select few into the upper exosphere and beyond, some of us think that maybe we should focus such creative energy to supporting the 'least of these' as well.
tin can is mostly space. easy to launch. can even pack them inside each other. very efficient.
human being is bag of water. effing heavy and inefficient to launch. and need other effing heavy but otherwise pointless systems to get them there safe. plus several replacement weights in food to keep them there. bloody expensive.
send up a few humans to take pictures, show them in IMAX to the rest of us down here, and i'm good.
beyond that, it's a game of how much would you pay to make the other country look stupid, plus how much science can we get out of it with the few people we can afford to send on the public science nickel, plus how much would you pay to be kinda special and have something to brag about, plus how rich and gullible are you.