[avmich]

> And I guess it's also true that not any of those billions could be trained to be an astronaut for a myriad of reasons.

This is less clear. Even more, the space tourism industry relies on that to be false. To an extent.

[saganus]

Well, in part I agree.

But I think there is (or at least will/should be) a difference between a trained astronaut and a space tourist.

I mean, being an astronaut is more than just going to outer space, isn't it? A space tourist might do a lot of the stuff that astronauts do, but I think there will still be a fundamental difference. Astronauts are there to do research, push the limits on human capabilities, etc.

After all that is settled, then the tourists can come.