Picture your ideal vacation destination.

If youre imagining the dark and cold vacuum of space, then Elon Musks SpaceX tourism is just for you!

Ah yes, Elon Musk, the guy known for laughing at a deer at the bottom of a swimming pool and for making a meme of his Tesla Cybertruck reveal when a demonstrator accidentally broke the trucks unbreakable windows.

Oh, and he founded his own NASA.

Jokes aside, Musks space exploration company, SpaceX, could be the saving grace for astronomy during a quiet time of NASA launches. SpaceX recently signed a deal with Space Adventures to make the stars above us the newest tourist hot spot; it plans to send four people in a spaceship as early as the end of next year.

Late 2021 may sound like an optimistic timeline, but it is actually a realistic one. Space Adventures has already run eight tourism trips to the International Space Station, and Musk started what CNN called the new Space Age when he flew a Tesla Roadster near Mars in the worlds most powerful rocket in 2018.

NASA apparently recognized SpaceXs potential as well, having given $2.6 billion in 2014 for the development of the Crew Dragon, the spacecraft that will be used to propel tourists into space.

Although tourism is only an afterthought next to SpaceXs endgame of Mars colonization, the commercialization of space travel could be what scientists need to spur the next Space Race. Space travel is expensive and time-intensive, and it can seem frivolous to invest in when there are more immediate concerns closer to home here on Earth.

Science needs a push to put stakes in space exploration. After all, a push is what put a man on the moon.

The U.S. government believed it was impractical to grant the $152 billion that was spent on the moon landing until Russias launch of the Sputnik satellite upped the pressure.

SpaceX changes the game by opening up possibilities for space travel that are not solely reliant on the government; its founded by a car company CEO and is recruiting non-astronaut civilians. Just as the U.S. broke grounds in research in the face of competition from Russia, commercialized space travel could prompt competition, resulting in reduced costs, increased efficiency, faster timelines and groundbreaking expeditions.

Space tourism will probably remain exclusive to the wealthy, but it could reignite global interest in astronomy and motivate trailblazing research into space exploration.

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Space tourism could spur the next Space Race | Opinion - The Daily Collegian Online