Category Archives: Space Travel

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The infrastructure bill recently passed by the Senate contained a provision that would impose on the trading of cryptocurrency the same reporting requirements applied to the transaction of other traditional financial securities, such as stocks. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler has also been advocating for more regulations on cryptocurrency trading and soliciting congressional support for his position. This has fueled concern in the financial industry that the growing interest in the cryptocurrency market may be dampened by the anticipated regulations.

This isnt the only new venture now suddenly threatened by congressional regulation. One may recall that, a few weeks ago, Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon had, in response to Jeff Bezoss successful venture into space, indignantly suggested that space travel be subjected to an excise tax, lest space exploration become a tax-free holiday for the wealthy. Blumenauer stressed that he was not opposed to . . . space innovation and only wanted to tax space-travel ventures that dont have a scientific purpose. However, space innovation is driven by not only scientific development, but also financial interest.

One may even contend that the scientific development associated with space innovation is itself driven by financial interest. After all, the prospect of becoming a pioneer in the potentially enormously lucrative industry of private space travel is a tremendous incentive for investors to divert resources to scientific research and development aimed at enhancing space-travel technology. There is simply no way to tax and hence in effect disincentivize the expansion of the private space-traveling industry without impeding potential scientific development.

As of August 10, Blumenauer has yet to formally introduce this space-travel-tax bill, and one can only speculate how serious he had been in his suggestions. However, his suggestions, together with congressional action to strengthen regulation on cryptocurrency, indicate a broader trend of taxing innovation. While the government may have a wide array of reasons for imposing new taxes and regulations onto budding industries, its increasing interest in doing so may, nonetheless, potentially have a chilling effect on innovation.

As the elementary principles of supply-side economics go, tax cuts and deregulation bolster the development of an industry, whereas new taxes and regulations impede it. Even by expressing interest in taxing certain industries, the government may be inducing considerable hesitation on the part of potential investors, who become wary that the profitability of the industry may be diminished by tightening regulations, to assume the risks associated with installing their capital in a relatively young and unestablished industry.

The expansion of the cryptocurrency market may be hindered if they are subjected to the same stringent regulations as traditional securities. While traditional stock trading formally began in America when the Philadelphia Stock Exchange was founded in 1790, formal regulations and third-party reporting requirements for did not emerge until 1934, when the SEC was formed in response to the Wall Street crash of 1929. Although the lack of regulations ultimately proved to be a recipe for financial disaster, it also arguably contributed to the initial flourishing of stock trading in America. Cryptocurrencys roots, on the other hand, can only be traced back as far as the late 20th century. Despite its exponential growth in market value and investors, cryptocurrency exchange is still an emergent market and has yet to command the broad investor confidence that traditional securities trading arguably enjoys. To impose the same stringent regulations applied to traditional securities onto cryptocurrency exchange in its infancy may well prevent it from attaining the establishment conventionality of the stock market.

The government often has different reasons to tighten regulations or impose taxes on budding industries, be it to enforce tax-compliance, increase tax revenue, or simply to punish wealthy citizens for pursuing extravagant exploits. However, regardless of the intentions of the lawmakers, regulations and taxes would foreseeably disincentivize investment in these budding industries and impede their development. The space-travel industry and cryptocurrency exchange are but two of the many markets that may be affected by this broader sentiment. Though the aforementioned short-term aims may be achievable through government action, free enterprise, investors interest in emergent industries, and societys zeal for innovation do not benefit in the long run.

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Cryptocurrency Regulations, Space Taxes, and Innovation - National Review

When a spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) this week, it was carrying with it some very important earthly cargo a 3D printer that uses moon dust to make solid materials.

The Cygnus spacecraft, developed by US aerospace company Northrop Grumman, delivered the printing system which is designed to revolutionise future missions to the moon by enabling the creation of equipment on the celestial body itself, rather than having to continually fly out heavy, and very expensive, loads.

Research into the use of moon dust or regolith as it is known scientifically as a construction material for 3D printing has been ongoing for many years, and now scientists are about to test its ability to produce under zero-gravity conditions onboard the ISS.

As real samples are very precious and rare, the printer will use a human-made moon stimulant, a compound similar enough in make-up to lunar regolith to warrant testing. Redwire, the company behind the printer, says that the device can be used to create small fixtures and fittings, but added that it could potentially stretch to printing larger parts like landing pads, roads, or even habitats on the lunar surface.

NASA has made no secret of its ambitions for the technology, suggesting it could even be used to streamline the process of humans becoming an interplanetary species. The space agency has said it intends to look further into the possibility of 3D printing settlements on Mars.

If you can see yourself at the frontier of space-travel, why not sign up to this programme that invites you to spend a year in a Mars simulator.

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NASA is testing a 3D moon dust printer on the International Space Station - Dazed

To afford Jeff Bezoss ten-minute ride to the edge of space, youd need to find a cool 23 million for a ticket, as one top bidder did.

But for those of us who can only dream of space travel, NASA is offering the chance to spend a whole year on Mars.

The catch? Its only a simulation.

The US space agency has announced that it is seeking four candidates for a mocked-up mission to Mars starting in Autumn 2022.

NASA wants to study how highly motivated individuals will adapt to the rigours of life on Mars through a long-term Earth-bound simulation.

The findings could have profound implications for any future attempts at establishing colonies on the Moon and the Red Planet.

NASAs series of three year-long experiments are intended to help figure out "methods and technologies to prevent and resolve potential problems on future human spaceflight missions to the Moon and Mars," the agency said.

Each of the three simulations will have four crew members, living and working in a 158 square-metre 3D-printed module called the Mars Dune Alpha.

The module will simulate some of the challenges that a real mission to Mars could pose, including "resource limitations, equipment failure, communication delays, and other environmental stressors".

As for the building itself, the layout of the innovative structure is organised in "a gradient of privacy," American construction firm and module designer ICON said.

Contained within the self-sufficient building will be four private crew quarters, workstations, as well as medical and food-growing facilities.

The crew will be able to adapt the living areas to their needs, with movable furniture, customisable lighting, temperature, and sound controls helping them build daily routines and maintain their circadian rhythms.

Crew duties may include simulated spacewalks, scientific research, the use of virtual reality and robotic controls, and exchanging communications.

Not many people. NASA has very specific requirements, with a master's degree in sciences, technology, engineering or mathematics and even pilot experience among them.

Additionally, only US citizens or permanent residents of the United States are eligible.

Lastly, applicants must be between 30 and 55 years old, in good physical shape, free from food allergies or intolerances and not subject to motion sickness.

"Crew selection will follow standard NASA criteria for astronaut candidate applicants," the space agency stressed.

NASA's ambition is for humans to set foot on Mars in the 2030s. Getting there wont just involve overcoming the considerable technical obstacles. The crews psychological well-being is likely to pose another challenge.

A flight to Mars is long: getting there takes around 6 to 8 months. The distance, isolation, and constant communication delays of up to twenty minutes each way are likely to take their toll.

NASAs virtual Martians will not be the first to lend themselves to such confinement.

In 2010-2011, Russian, European and Chinese volunteers remained locked up for 520 days to simulate the trip to Mars.

Between 2013 and 2017, NASA volunteers spent up to a full year at a time in an isolated simulation habitat on top of a volcano in Hawaii.

While the first five HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) exhibitions went smoothly, the sixth ended early when a crew member was electrocuted and had to be taken to hospital.

For more on this story watch the video in the media player above.

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Life on Mars? NASA wants you to spend a year in a 3D-printed dome pretending you're living there - Euronews

VANCOUVER -- A Vancouver artist is one of 20 finalists hoping for a spot on the first civilian mission to the moon.

The first mission to the moon is expected to take place in 2023 with a rocket developed by SpaceX. The trip will take a week and travel to the moon and back.

In 2018, Japenese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa bought all the seats on the rocket and wants to give spots to eight people from around the world.

In a video, Maezawa said he received applications from more than one million people around the world. Applicants were asked to send in videos explaining what they want to accomplish in space.

Vancouver-based Boris Moshenkov is a finalist in the Dear Moon project, which is narrowing down candidates for the trip.

Moshenkov says as a painter, he's dreamt of going to space ever since he was a kid.

"Somehow it just feels like I've manifested all this from painting space all these years," Moshenkov said. "Of course the space travel portion is going to be amazing, but what will we create after come back? How will this inspire us?"

As a finalist, Moshenkov will receive space training. It's unclear when the final team will be selected.

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Vancouver artist a finalist for 1st civilian mission to the moon - CTV News Vancouver

Spacing Out

To the Editor:

I found it surprising, and profoundly distressing, that none of the accomplished authors and reviewers of the four books on space travel (Walter Isaacson on Elon Musk, Elliot Ackerman on Richard Branson, and Mark Atwood Lawrence on John Glenn and John Kennedy, July 25) questioned the delusion that the future of humanity lies in space.

It doesnt. It lies on Earth. Space may be fun for a few. But for the rest of us, there is no Plan(et) B. Tragedy awaits us unless we devote all our efforts to preserving our habitat a far more profound challenge than the conquest of space. All these authors and reviewers know that. They owed it to us to acknowledge it.

Richard L. Abel Santa Monica, Calif.

To the Editor:

While reading through the fascinating collection of reviews on the theme of space exploration, which largely ignored ecology, inequality and what economists call opportunity cost, I kept playing two classic songs in my head from half a century ago, still sadly more relevant than ever: Gil Scott-Herons Whitey on the Moon and the opening lines of Marvin Gayes immortal Inner City Blues: Rockets, moon shots / Spend it on the have-nots.

Sometimes poets and songwriters raise questions even the most brilliant scientists and businessmen might well ponder. As for space aliens, they likely took a long look at us, turned around and went back home long ago.

Steve HeiligSan Francisco

To the Editor:

In his review of Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy (Aug. 1), Joseph Dorman states that Ethel not only knew of her husband Juliuss spying for the Soviet Union but aided him at times, including in the recruitment of her brother [David Greenglass] and sister-in-law [Ruth].

For this claim, Dorman relies on strong evidence from Soviet archives. But this evidence is problematic at best. It consists of a cable written by a Soviet intelligence agent on Sept. 20, 1944, two versions of which exist. One, intercepted by U.S. intelligence, was decrypted and translated as part of the top-secret Venona project. It says that Julius and his wife recommend Ruth as an intelligent and clever girl. The other, a translation of the same cable made directly from the copy in the Soviet archives, does not refer to Ethel at all.

The full texts of both versions are reprinted in Final Verdict: What Really Happened in the Rosenberg Case, by Walter Schneir, with a preface and afterword written by me.

Miriam SchneirMontclair, N.J.

To the Editor:

When Laurie Colwin, the subject of Lisa Zeidners essay (July 25), died in 1992, I was 32. I was 16 years younger than she was, with a baby daughter and a marriage that unbeknown to me was about to implode. She was my friend, even though she never knew it.

I longed to sit with her at her tiny apartment table and eat her famous roasted chicken. Her voice was so conversational, so direct and funny and true; her fictional friends were like the friends I had, loyal and exasperating and there for you through thick or thin. I felt her loss like that of a longtime pen pal, even though our correspondence was one-sided. I came to her food writing after her death, leafing through my mothers old issues of Gourmet magazine.

My baby daughter is a grown woman of 30 now, a writer and a cook who just bought her first home. I found a second copy of Home Cooking on my bookshelves and am going to give it to her along with a copy of Zeidners essay. I hope Colwins writing will speak to her as it did to me about cooking, about family and about joy.

Alison LawrenceToronto

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Marvin Gaye, the Venona Project and Other Letters to the Editor - The New York Times

The North America space robotics market is currently a highly profitable growth ground owing to the presence of substantially funded organizations like NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. The region is also witnessing several ongoing and upcoming space missions that are anticipated to generate considerable demand for space robots, further strengthening the regions space robotics industry size.

According to a research report by Global Market Insights, Inc., space robotics market is estimated to surpass $3.5 billion by 2025.

Global space robotics market is estimated to procure commendable returns in the ensuing years, primarily owing to the increasing investments and efforts dedicated toward space research and exploration in countries such as the United States, India, and Russia. Space robotics is significant in the development of machines that are capable of expanding the human capacities in space by facilitating abilities beyond human limitations in extreme space environments.

Request for a sample copy of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/3219

Increasing investments in space programs will also have significance in driving demand for space robots in the coming years. Recently, SpaceX was awarded a $50.3 million contract by NASA to launch its X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer mission. Major funding toward potential space missions will provide a huge scope for space robotics engineering, thereby augmenting space robotics market share in the future.

Space explorations have always attracted the interests of several private companies. Case in point, Boeing has built the Saturn V rocket, the 363-foot booster rocket capable of lifting the entire apparatus to the edge of space. In the last few years, the space exploration arena has witnessed the emergence of multiple competitors such as Blue Origin, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and more. The introduction of new technologies by key players, would positively influence space robotics market trends over the forecast period.

A farfetched but plausible idea that has begun surfacing the international space industry is the possibility of space travel for recreational purposes. With numerous firms embarking on a quest to launch spaceflights for civilians, space travel is starting to seem less like a dream. Possibilities of recreational space travel could present a major opportunity for space robotics companies, thus augmenting the space robotics market share in the future.

Request for customization @ https://www.gminsights.com/roc/3219

Although government funding to organizations like NASA is facing a slump, the space industry is slowly moving to the private sector, with Elon Musks SpaceX and Jeff Bezos Blue Origin signing more contracts. SpaceX is reportedly gearing up to launch its eighteenth contracted CRS mission to the International Space Station through its Cargo Dragon spacecraft. The mission will also use the Space Stations robotic arm Canadarm 2 to extract IDA-3 from the Dragons trunk. Increasing collaborations between established space stations and emerging private firms will present space robotics companies with major growth prospects in the ensuing years.

In terms of segmental growth, the robotic arms segment is slated to witness immense demand over the coming years. Robotic arms have proved to be one of the most reliable machines in space missions. Recently, NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory finished installing a 2.1-meter-long robot arm on the Mars 2020 rover. The new arm has been designed to perform much more complex activities. Increasing penetration of robotic arms for advanced space mission will result in segmental growth for the global space robotics market.

A perfect example is the partnership between Tokyos ispace and Elon Musks SpaceX to send a series of robots to the moon. The Lunar Lander will orbit the moon in this mission thats scheduled in mid-2020. A rise in the integration of robotics technology for future space missions will substantially drive space robotics market outlook in the future.

Browse complete table of content (TOC) of this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/toc/detail/space-robotics-market

The Asia Pacific market is also likely to emerge as a strong contender due to increasing implementation of major space projects. For example, the Indian Space Research Organizations second moon mission Chandrayaan 2 is the nations first attempt at robotic space explorations. Increasing adoption of space robotics engineering for upcoming space programs and explorations would primarily contribute to expanding Asia Pacific space robotics market size.

The numerous benefits depicted by these technologies will accelerate the adoption of space robots in the coming years. Products like space probes are capable of exploring areas that are beyond human accessibility. Moreover, space robots can also withstand extreme temperatures and perform programmed tasks for longer durations. These advantages will play a major role in further accelerating the adoption of space robotics.

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Space Robotics Market Growth Prospects by Regions, Trends and Key Players to 2025 - The AltcoinBeacon

Did you hear about SpaceXs acquisition last week?

Most investors didnt.

Thats because the press largely yawned at the news. After all, whats the big deal?

Well, as our macro specialist, Eric Fry, points out below,whySpaceX made this acquisition is very telling.

The answer points toward a massive technological trend that will define this decade, and generate enormous wealth for investor portfolios that are well-positioned.

Today, lets hear more from Eric about SpaceXs acquisition, this megatrend, and a leading space technology and intelligence company thats poised for huge growth over the next two to three years.

Ill let Eric take it from here.

Have a good weekend,

Jeff Remsburg

Elon Musks Quiet Acquisition Has Everything to Do With 5G

By Eric Fry

When SpaceX does something, you know about it.

Whenever one of its rockets launches or lands, media outlets everywhere plaster it all over our screens.

Scroll YouTube for a while, and you can find thousands of Elon Musk fans cheering SpaceXs admittedly impressive launches and landings.

SpaceX crashes get blanket coverage as well and they bring out Musk haters full of schadenfreude.

Earlier this week, however, SpaceX did something very quietly.

When it acquired Swarm Technologies, a small satellite connectivity startup, it didnt issue a press release. Musk didnt tweet about it.

Instead, SpaceX pencil pushers filed some paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and enterprising reporters dug it up.

Of course, once we found out about it, the SpaceX-Swarm deal got the same amount of attention that everything Musk-related receives.

However, the deals surreptitiousness ended up receiving most of the attention. (As did the fact that this is SpaceXs first acquisition during its 19-year life.)

And that means you could have missed out on learningwhySpaceX bought Swarm and how that ties into the 5G megatrend.

Lets take a look

No IoT Without 5G

Swarm operates a constellation of 120 smartphone-sized satellites and a ground station network. In the deal, SpaceX gets all that plus various space licenses and patents.

Of course, the deal makes sense for Swarm. It gets this tiny 30-person company the resources it needs to take on similar smallsat companies.

While SpaceX prefers to develop technology internally, this deal puts it in one quick move into the Internet of Things (IoT) business.

Swarms SpaceBEE satellites communicate with its ground station network of antennas with a Swarm Tile. All those devices on the ground are then part of the global IoT network.

The IoT is a vibrant, high-speed network of physical objects things that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of exchanging data and communicating with other devices, systems, and/or people.

The global IoT market is expected to reach a value of $1.39 trillion by 2026, up from $761.4 billion in 2020, according to Mordor Intelligence.

At this point, youre likely asking what all this has to do with 5G.

Heres the thing: The IoT cannot reach its true potential without the next generation of mobile broadband that will replace or augment existing 4G LTE connections.

5G technology drastically improves upload and download speeds, while also improving latency, which is the time it takes devices to communicate with wireless networks.

The current 4G network delivers around 100 megabits per second. But once 5G rolls out, that number jumps to 10,000 megabits per second or 100 times faster than the current speed.

That means an entirely new generation of technologies may become feasible and flourish.

Whereas 4G provided the network speeds necessary to run online apps and mobile streaming, 5G represents a monumental leap forward. It provides the foundation for a whole host of gee-whiz technologies including the IoT and dozens of other innovations now waiting at the starting gate.

Qualcomm estimates that 5G networks will generate a whopping $13.2 trillion in global sales activity by 2035. Other estimates say 5G is about to unleash an economic tsunami worth at least $56 trillion.

You cant invest in SpaceX or in Swarm.

But you can do this

A Competitive Constellation

Currently, around 100 satellites are launched every year.

But by the end of the decade, Euroconsult estimates, well be launching nearly1,000 satellites every year.

By 2028, there could be 15,000 satellites in orbit.

According to Euroconsult, by 2028, there could be 15,000 satellites in orbit.

Morgan Stanley predicts that the global space industry could generate over $1 trillion by 2040, up from $350 billion today.

Moreover, these non-terrestrial networks will become a vital link in the global 5G network deployment.

Thats a high-growth sector we want to be in.

And I like one particular play right now

Warren Buffett advises buying companies that possess a competitive moat an advantage that secures their market share and growth potential.

A space company that I recommended to members of my trading service,The Speculator, possesses what I call a competitive constellation.

That company is a leading space technology and intelligence company that traces its roots to the early days of space exploration.

Today, dozens of its satellites are orbiting Earth, and this constellation is gathering reams of data and delivering it in various forms to its government and corporate customers. As a result, nearly 4 billion people interact with this companys technology every month.

Clearly, it has constructed an impressive competitive constellation.

But the company does face competitive threats from the likes of other established satellite companies as well as upstarts like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic.

In addition to these corporate threats, it must also grapple with the ongoing technological challenges of space travel and exploration. As astronaut Scott Kelly famously quipped after a SpaceX rocket explosion in 2015, Space is hard.

Space exploration failures can lead to charges in the tens of millions against earnings.

In fact, despite delivering a strong quarterly report earlier this month that topped analyst estimates for both revenues and earnings, the companys shares dipped due to a worse-than-expected announcement about its next-generation fleet of satellites.

Despite this setback, however, the companys brass maintained its revenue and earnings guidance for the rest of the year.

Bottom line: That selloff seemed like a major overreaction to the satellite delay.

And following that report, I reiterated my belief in the company to Speculator members, stating that this company has compiled a long-term track record of success, despite intermittent setbacks, and I believe it will do so again and reap sizable earnings growth as a result.

The company, I said, remains a leading space technology and intelligence company that possesses substantial earnings growth potential over the next two to three years.

And I said that I believed the selloff is affording investors a second opportunity to invest in outstanding speculation.

To learn how to get this outstanding speculation as aSpeculatormember,click here.

Regards,

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SpaceXs Telling Acquisition This Week - InvestorPlace

Its been 52 years since the artist Jeff Gates made a reservation to go to the Moon. Like many who gathered around their TV sets to watch the first lunar landing on July 20, 1969, Gatesthen a 20-year-old college student home for summer vacationwalked outside immediately afterward and looked skyward.

I kept saying, there are human beings on that Moon!, says Gates, now 72. It was unbelievable, and I wasnt quite sure what to do with that feeling. But I wanted to be a part of that shared moment of exhilaration and amazement Its just human nature to want to be part of that.

Gates, a longtime reader of sci-fi and fantasy books, had seen some media coverage of Pan Ams First Moon Flights Club, a marketing stunt from the now-defunct airline offering lunar passage by the year 2000. He called an agent at the airline and made a reservation for himself and Mrs. Gates, the wife he assumed he would have by then. His membership card, numbered 1,043 out of 93,000 such tickets issued between 1968 and 1971, has been in the collection of the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. since 2016.

This Pan Am "First Moon Flights" Club card, number 1043, was issued by the airline to Jeffrey Gates in the late 1960s. Gates acquired the card (as well as reservations for himself and his wife-of-the-future) when he was 20 years old.

Courtesy Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum

Like so many other hopeful would-be astronauts, Gates never got his chance to go to space. In fact, after booking his flight, he didnt think much about the card at all until the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. What I did realize was we are not at the point where commercial space travel is going to be normalized anytime soon, he says of that incident, which killed all seven aboard. But five decades after booking his never-used tickets, Gatesand his wife, Susie, who he married in 1991has been watching in recent weeks as a series of civilian space missions are bringing his dreams ever closer to reality. Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic flight and Jeff Bezoss Blue Origin launch made headlines with their short suborbital jaunts, while the upcoming Inspiration4 mission plans to put an all-civilian crew into orbit for the first time. (TIME Studios is producing a documentary series on the Inspiration4 mission.)

The Branson, Bezos and Inspiration4 missions, while historic in their own rights, also represent new landmarks in a long-evolving effort to open space up to non-professionals. Indeed, private citizens have been joining astronauts in space for nearly four decades, a mixture of experts picked to handle specialized equipment being launched into space, members of Congress who had power over NASAs budget, people selected as publicity stunts or in the name of diplomacy, and billionaires who could afford outrageous sums for the privilege to strap themselves into a Russian Soyuz rocket.

To whom the honor of first civilian in space belongs depends on your point of view. Back in the heyday of the Cold War and the 1960s Space Race, NASA recruited its astronauts almost exclusively from the ranks of military test pilots. Diversity at that point meant how many candidates were drawn from the Air Force versus the Navy (with some Marine pilots thrown in). So when Neil Armstrong was selected for the astronaut program in 1962, the choice was notable. Armstrong had served as a Naval aviator in Korea, returned to Purdue to complete his degree, and then joined NASAs predecessor agency as a test pilot. Given that Armstrong was no longer in the military and that NASA was a civilian agency, he was dubbed the first civilian astronaut to fly at the time of his 1966 Gemini 8 mission. Of course, Armstrongs flight test experience and NASA training made the distinction mainly technical.

In the mid-1980s, NASA began picking payload specialistspeople with specialized experience on a particular piece of hardwareto join space shuttle missions. While most in the space community now agree that these specialists deserve to be called astronauts as much as anyone else who flew on the shuttle, they were among the first people to travel to space who werent on a government payroll. McDonnell Douglas test engineer Charlie Walker, who flew on three different shuttle missions between 1984 and 1985, was the first such specialist, and ran an experiment designed to help pharmaceutical research.

Politicians who held sway over the U.S. space program soon followed. In 1985, Senator Jake Garn (R-UT), then chair of the subcommittee charged with overseeing NASAs budget, joked that the agency wouldnt get another cent unless they let him go to space. NASA granted his wish, giving him a spot aboard the space shuttle Discoverys fourth flight in 1985. In its coverage, TIME noted that the decision to send Garn to space came a few months after then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced that the first truly private citizen in space would be a teacher. When the shuttle lifts off, all of America will be reminded of the crucial role teachers and education play in the life of our nation, Reagan said in a 1984 speech to schoolworkers. I cant think of a better lesson for our children and our country. When TIME asked Garn whether he was taking a spot away from a teacher (in an April 22, 1985 story headlined Jake Skywalker), Garn characterized his request as part of his oversight function. I am a public official, he said. I am concerned. I even flew the B-1 bomber years ago, to decide whether that was something I ought to vote for or not, and Ive driven the M-1 tank for the same reason. A Salt Lake City newspaper poll showed 69% of participants supported sending Garnwho was up for re-election the following yearto space. (Bill Nelson, who this year became NASA administrator, similarly flew on a shuttle mission in 1986, when he was a congressperson.)

In June 1985, NASA invited another public figure on a shuttle mission, this time a foreign dignitary: the then-28-year-old Sultan ibn Salman Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, who went up to photograph the launch of a Saudi communications satellite. His trip marked a number of firsts: he was the first Saudi, the first Arab, the first Muslim and the first member of a royal family to travel into space. He was also the youngest space shuttle passenger to date. His selection, says Margaret Weitekamp, chair of the National Air and Space Museums space history division, also had a diplomatic angle. The flight of the Saudi prince was a way of demonstrating, materially, some loyalty to a political partner and technological partner in this project, she says. The Saudis were paying NASA to launch the satellites onboard their launch vehicle and so then they got the chance to have a payload specialist [on board].

Reagans earlier promise to send a teacher to space materialized in the mid-1980s as the Space Flight Participant program, an effort to send private citizens into space who could tell great stories or inspire others when they returned, like journalists and teachers. Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire social studies educator, was selected as the first teacher in the program. I watched the Space Age being born and I would like to participate, she wrote in her application.

The Participant program was all about communicating, says former Alan Ladwig, a former NASA official who once ran the initiative. Part of that was because it was felt that astronauts were not the greatest communicators. Some of them were, but there was a feeling that we want to hear more about what space is like except that its neat. [The goal] was trying to get a more unfiltered look. Tell us what you really felt and why this is all important.

The larger goal, says Ladwig, was to inspire people to pursue what are now called STEM careersscience, technology, engineering and mathto firm up a talent pipeline upon which NASA could draw. My hope was this would inspire students to want to study science and math, he says. Not enough students were getting into science and math, especially young women, and even today thats getting better, but its still not where it should be. But the program came to a tragic halt when the Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986, killing all those aboardincluding McAuliffe.

Over the next decade or so, the Russians picked up the civilian space travel ball where the Americans had dropped it. Throughout the 1990s, private citizens like Japanese journalist Toyohiro Akiyama and British chemist Helen Sharman blasted off aboard Soyuz rockets for Russias Mir space station, which was deorbited in 2001, a few years after the International Space Station (ISS) was launched. Akiyama was sent as a promotional stunt for his television station, while Sharman was sponsored by a consortium of British companies seeking to put the first Briton in space.

That the turn-of-the-century dot-com era created a bevy of new millionaires and billionaires with money to burn was opportune for Russias space program, which at the time was hemorrhaging cash. The Russian program badly needed money, and was willing to fly paying customers, says John Logsdon, founder of George Washington Universitys Space Policy Institute. Space Adventures, a Virginia-based space tourism company that launched in 1998, brokered seats aboard the Soyuz for those with enough money to make the trip. First among them was Dennis Tito, founder of investment firm Wilshire Associates, who reportedly paid $20 million in 2001 dollars for a trip to the ISS, thus becoming the worlds first true space tourist. Titos trip, says Ladwig, got the dreamers excited about private space travel again.

Space Adventures has since launched six other space tourists to the ISS, including telecom entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari (the first female space tourist, the first of Iranian descent and the first Muslim woman in space, and who now heads the X-Prize Foundation), video game developer Richard Garriott (the first son of an astronaut to pay his own way) and Charles Simonyi (a tech billionaire who helped create Microsoft Word and Excel and the only space tourist to make repeat trips, in 2007 and 2009).

Now, with the rise of U.S.-based private space companies, like Bransons Virgin Galactic, Bezoss Blue Origin and Elon Musks SpaceX, prospective space tourists no longer need to travel to the remote desert steppe of Baikonur, Kazakhstan for a ride aboard a Russian rocket. Its still early days for all three companies. But for civilians dreaming of a trip to the stars, their ship may come inand blast offsoon enough. Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Elon Musk, [they] should make good on my ticket to the Moon, says Gates, whose wife Susie is game to join him. That would be a great honeymoon, she says.

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Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com.

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How the Inspiration4 Mission Fits Into the Long History of Civilian Space Travel - TIME

With Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson both flying to space in craft made by their own private companies, July 2021 was perhaps the highest-profile month for space in years. But these events have been met with a mix of opinion.

I am an associate professor of public relations and study how opinions on topics like politics, entertainment and even space launches vary between different groups of people. I worked with colleagues at The Harris Poll to find out what U.S. residents think of these launches and the broader topic of private spaceflight.

The poll found that most U.S. residents are interested in and have a positive attitude toward the private space industry. One outlier was younger people, who are less hopeful about the benefits of galactic journeys. Overall though and rather interestingly these positive feelings are widely held across political and demographic lines. Its rare to see such agreement on any issue these days, so the results suggest space may be a unifying topic in future years.

A total of 2,011 U.S. residents responded to the survey questions between July 23 and July 25, 2021, just a couple weeks after Branson and Bezos went to space. The survey asked people to agree or disagree with a number of statements about the potential value of these launches, the motivation behind the launches and who will have access to space. In response to every question, people were supportive of space travel and the technological developments that come from it. Yet, respondents also viewed these events as ego trips generally limited to rich people.

To understand whether people think these endeavors are important, one statement was: Space travel and research are important for the future development of humanity. Seventy-four percent of respondents agreed, with similar results across all political parties. Similarly, over twothirds of people agreed with the idea The recent space launches by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are important for the future development of space travel and technology.

Despite this support, results also reflected recent chatter about space being the playground of the super-rich. In response to the statement The launches make me believe that one day soon ordinary people will be able to go to space, 58% of people agreed. Yet about 80% felt The launches make me believe that only rich people will be able to go to space anytime soon, as well as agreed with the statement The recent space launches by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic were billionaire ego trips.

Finally, about 3 in 4 felt Money spent on space could better be spent addressing todays issues on Earth, though partisan divides were a bit higher here.

According to Rob Jekielek, managing director at The Harris Poll, Space travel has captured our imagination about the future of humanity, but people are concerned about taking resources away from addressing todays pressing challenges. This feeling was mirrored across most demographics and political parties a rare thing in an age when partisanship on most issues is quite high.

While the survey found a lot of agreement across partisan lines, there were higher levels of disagreement between age groups young people in particular stood out.

Respondents 18 to 24 years old were less supportive when it came to believing that spending money on space or on Earth would have as much of a positive effect.

Of the youngest group, 59% said space travel is important for humanity, and only 63% thought the money could be better spent on Earth. Meanwhile, 78% of people aged 41 to 56 thought space travel is important for humanity, and 80% think money spent on space travel could be better spent on Earth. Young peoples lower trust in the ability of money to solve problems compared to older groups is not new, though. Younger Americans tend to have less faith in political systems in general.

Another demographic difference of note was between those willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine versus those who were not. Of people interested in vaccines, 79% think space travel is important versus 60% of those opposed to vaccines. While both groups still agree that space travel is important, the gap was one of the largest in the sample. I believe this could reflect differing views on science in general.

Despite the mix of headlines and tweets alternatively bashing or praising Bezos, Branson and Elon Musk, this survey shows that, for now, U.S. residents are generally in agreement that space is still an exciting frontier. The future of space includes satellite internet, missions to Mars and space tourism, but it also involves high costs, the problems of space junk and climate concerns.

It will be interesting to see if this broad support continues or if partisanship and the less optimistic views of the younger generations take hold.

[Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week. Subscribe to The Conversations science newsletter.]

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Space travel for billionaires is the surprise topic with bipartisan American support but not from Gen Z - The Conversation US

Its just as well that Valentina Tereshkova was not around to get her hands on a copy of the June 17, 1963 edition of The New York Times. Tereshkova would not likely have been able to read the Times no matter what, since Western papers didnt much circulate in the Soviet Unionor anywhere else in the Eastern bloc for that matter. But even if they had, Tereshkova would have missed that Times edition: Just the day before, she had lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in what is today the nation of Kazakhstan, aboard her Vostok 6 spacecraft, becoming the 12th personand the first femalein space.

SOVIET ORBITS WOMAN ASTRONAUT, the Times headline read, respectfully enough. The first paragraph maintained the businesslike tone, identifying her as a Junior Lieutenant in the Soviet Air Force. So did the next paragraph, describing how Tereshkova was communicating by radio with fellow cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky, who was also aloft in his Vostok 5 spacecraft. But then things turned sour.

Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

There was the reference to her in the third paragraph as a heavyset parachutist. There was that business later on about the elegant blue linen dress and stiletto heels she wore when she met the Soviet presswith no corresponding mention of Bykovskys ensemble. There were the quotes from everyday New Yorkers who were asked to respond to Tereshkovas accomplishment.

It only proves one thingthat you cant get away from women no matter where you go, said one passengerglamorously described as an air travelerat New York International Airport, in the days before it was JFK.

They shouldnt send a woman up there alone, said one woman in Times Square. She should have a man with her.

David Pollack/Corbis via Getty Images

History would note that Tereshkova very much did not need a man to circle the Earth 28 times in her own spacecraft, remaining aloft for nearly three days. But that didnt stop tongues from wagging and people from disapproving of the whole idea of a lady astronaut. History would note too that it would be another 20 years, almost to the day, before the U.S. would follow the lead of the U.S.S.R., when Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.

But that was then and this is nowsort of. Just shy of 600 human beings have flown in space, but as of this spring, only 65 of them have been women, according to NASA. Thats not nothing. Women have commanded the space shuttle, commanded the space station; in 2020, astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch conducted the first all-female spacewalk. Whats more, NASAs Artemis lunar program is very explicit in its goal to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by the mid-2020s. And if NASA knows whats smartand NASA usually does know whats smartthe betting here is that that woman will also command the mission.

Sergei Savostyanov

While space explorations past has been largely a male enterpriseespecially in the earliest days, defined by rocket-jock test pilots with their sports cars and groupies and taste for hard-drinkingthe future is likely to be female. NASA tapped 18 astronauts as candidates for the Artemis program and took care to divide them evenly between nine men and nine women. Some of the best-known astronauts of the shuttle and space station era have been women: Americas Peggy Whitsonwho has accumulated 665 days in space over the course of her three missions, the equivalent of a round-trip to Mars; Chiaki Mukai, the first Japanese woman in space; Yi So-yeon, the first Korean woman; Mae Jemison, the first African American woman.

It ought not have to be saidthough in some quarters it is perhaps a necessary reminderthat these and the other five dozen women in space are every bit the cosmic equivalent of their male counterparts. But might they in some ways be better? Might they bring qualities men lack?

Twenty-four men have seen the moon up close and came back to tell us about it. What different perspective might a woman have carried home?

Space Frontiers

I thought so (and still think so) when I was writing my new novel Holdout, about Walli Beckwith, an American astronaut who refuses to come home from the International Space Station when an emergency forces her crewmates to evacuate. Beckwith risks her careerand her lifeto make a stand in space in order to right a grievous wrong taking place on Earth. For the first chapter of the book, Walli was Wally, she was a he. But when I finished writing that chapter I felt oddly dissatisfied, oddly limited; my lead character wanted to be a womanneeded to be a woman, I felt.

I wanted a character who reminded me of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, women who stood up for human rightsand did so without the structural advantages of access to power and influence that men have historically enjoyed. When Wally became Walli, she became richer, more complex, more nuanced, more humane. Her defiant stand became bravermade, as it was, against a system that remains far more patriarchal than matriarchal. And I foundfair or notthat her relationships with the other characters became more layered.

AFP

These same traits might even make women a better choice for long-duration space missions than men are. Emotional intelligence is not the exclusive province of females, but it is often expressed more fully, more consistently by them than it is by men. And thats a quality that will be in deep need as humans try the hard and collaborative business of homesteading the moon or, even more remotely and challengingly, Mars.

There is a certain kind of reverse bias in framing women as the more compassionate, intuitive, interpersonally adept gender. There are obtuse women and empathic men; selfish women and selfless men. There is cowardice in both genders and courage in both. And all of this is just assigned-at-birth gender. None of it even takes into consideration the rainbow of traits found across the arc of more fluid genders.

Still, as with so many other things, space has been an overwhelmingly mens game long enough. It was a mens game this summer in the bro-billionaire competition between Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos to be the first to make their suborbital jaunts. It was a mans game when space was a proxy war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., fighting for the celestial high ground. It was a mans game in the decades after. Neil Armstrong, bless him, gave us his historic but stilted One small step statement. Might there have been something more lyrical from a woman? Twenty-four men have seen the moon up close and came back to tell us about it. What different perspectiveabout the nature of humanity, the imperative to exploremight a woman have carried home with her?

Were finding out slowly, and well find out more as ever greater numbers of women take their place inand stake their claim tospace. From my small earthbound perspective, I can only say Im glad I made Wally a Walli. I had more to give the character than I otherwise would haveand I learned more from her, too.

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Women Are the Future of Space Travel - ELLE.com