How the billionaires ruined space – Brock Press

Jeff Bezos went to space again a little while ago. This time he brought William Shatner, the actor best known for playing Captain Kirk in the original series Star Trek. This was the newest launch in what has come to be referred to as The Billionaire Space Race, a battle between the worlds richest to privatize and commercialize space travel before anyone else.

Previous milestones in the race include Elon Musks founding of SpaceX, Richard Bransons company, Virgin Galactic making a successful trip into space this past summer, and Bezos making his first trip to space just a few days later.

By all measures, Im someone who should be incredibly excited about the prospect of space travel and exploration. I grew up watching Star Trek, and space documentaries. I excitedly watched every single video that Cmdr. Chris Hadfield posted from the International Space Station and devoured every update from the Mars Rovers. Space is really cool and my childhood heroes were the people who wanted to explore it.

The billionaires have killed that excitement for me, though. The appeal of shows like Star Trek, and books and movies like The Martian was that they presented space exploration as something noble. It was about boldly going where no one had gone before, to learn new things and to come together as human beings. Maybe it was idealistic, maybe it was simplistic, but this isnt how I imagined the next chapter of human space exploration unfolding, and Im really not a fan.

The Billionaire Space Race isnt about exploration or learning, its about the worlds wealthiest men showing off their wealth while simultaneously scheming up ways to get richer. There are always people who will make the argument that theres a net positive to all of this, that this privatization of space will lead to new technologies and innovations and that well all be better off for it.

The thing is though, the people going to space right now arent scientists, theyre not astronauts or engineers, theyre just people who are rich and famous enough to be able to afford to keep launching things into the atmosphere until they stick.

This iteration of the space race just seems so pointless to me, its not really about science or technology, no matter what some people might be claiming, its about tourism and money.

The other argument that gets made, particularly by people who are cheering for Musk, is that humanity needs a backup plan. Musk and SpaceX aim to send colonists to Mars by 2050. Musk himself has admitted that a lot of people are probably going to die in the beginning, and sure, space travel has always been dangerous, but thats why we dont let just anyone do it.

When Musk says he wants to send colonists to space, hes not talking about astronauts, hes not talking about scientists or pilots or people who have any kind of specialized training, hes talking about regular people. Combine that with the fact that, in the same interview, he said that there would be loans available for people who cant pay for their own way to get to Mars, that theyll be able to work off upon arrival, and it starts to sound like the beginning of a dystopian movie.

Thats not even to mention the climate crisis that were seeing the effects of here on Earth. There are problems that we need to solve, right here on this planet, problems that will not be solved by billionaires building rocket ships and launching themselves into space. When even Prince William and the rest of the Royal Family are calling for a more grounded approach, thats when you have to start thinking that maybe, just maybe, its a needless display of wealth and excess rather than a noble humanitarian pursuit.

Dont get me wrong, I absolutely believe that humanity should be reaching for the stars, but we should be doing it for the right reason, and it shouldnt be an excuse to avoid the problems that exist right here on earth.

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How the billionaires ruined space - Brock Press