In the past weeks two rich men and their crew “flew” into space becoming “astronauts”. First, we had Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Unity 22. The most recent was Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin’s spaceflight on the New Shepard vehicle. Both spaceflights …
were great and exciting to watch virtually in real-time. While not being an expert in spacecrafts, we agreed (we watched as team), that the Virgin Galactic craft was more elegant, and the entire operation appeared to be more professional. Without actually saying the word – we smiled at the geometrical shape of New Shepard; we knew what was up! The way New Shepard components landed was reminiscent of the drop tower rides at carnivals. Again, we are not experts, so we don’t know in the ins and outs of each operation; in reality both were magnificent, and Sir Richard clapped of happiness when the craft landed, Bezos pronounced “Best day ever” following his feat.
Given that these flights took place while we are in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, the leaders of the operations took a bit of flak. It is tricky … many people are still suffering, vaccination distribution around the world in unequal, and these flights may have been seen as flagrant show of excess. On the flip side, at least, these recent space flights may signify a return to some “normality”… rich people doing rich people things!
I think everyone is happiest for the 82-year old Wally Funk – given her incredible journey as a trained astronaut and accomplished aviator who became the oldest person to go to space! Good for her! Of course, the Blue Origin’s flight broke two records – one for the oldest person and one for the youngest person to go to space; Wally (82) and some 18-year old. Apparently, sales of Blue Origin space flights are already close to $100 million; each ticket costs over $200,000! It is anticipated that flights on Virgin Galactic will cost ~$250,000 per seat!
In the meantime, for some perspective, the highly transmissible delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 is causing COVID-19 surges around the world; it now accounts for ~83% of new cases in the US; globally, ~8,000 people lost their life to the disease today.
As for spaceflights, I don’t think they’ll affect me monetarily … I have to get comfortable getting into elevators first and then go step-by-step from there!
Until next time …