[Ajedi32]

That's the dream; affordable space tourism for the masses.

If Starship manages to hit the price and performance targets Musk has set for it (~$2 million/launch[1], max of 1000 passengers[2]) you could get a ticket to orbit for around $2000. Throw in some extra for profit margin, a stay at an orbital space hotel, and a few additional expenses, and it might well be possible to take a vacation in space for less than $10k.

I really hope that happens within my lifetime; it'd be amazing to experience.

[1]: https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/06/elon-musk-says-spacexs-sta...

[2]: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1144004310503530496

[Andrew_nenakhov]

1000 passengers, really? Just imagine the possible loss of life if something goes wrong. We are still counting 100 successful launches in a row as an unprecedented success - whereas in commercial airplane flights airlines with less than 1 incident per 5000000 flights are considered 'poor safety record'.

[Ajedi32]

There aren't many rocket designs in use right now that have had more than 100 flights _total_. It's hard to properly evaluate the safety of a system when it only gets tested once a month.

As the cost of spaceflight comes down and launch frequency goes up, I suspect we'll start seeing reusable launch systems emerge that have had thousands of launches across dozens of rockets. Once that happens I think spaceflight's safety record will improve significantly.

[quijoteuniv]

I hope people have better dreams. That is my dream.

[aerovistae]

Oh man, struggling to channel dang here. How to respond constructively. Probably the best thing to do is flag and ignore, but I can't pass this up.

If people are interested in going somewhere, who are you to denigrate their ambitions? What is wrong with dreaming of orbiting the planet? How does that dream fall short? Is it a weak dream for a midwestern child, landlocked a thousand miles in every direction, to want to see the ocean? Is it a weak dream for a city child, blocked by light pollution, to want to see the stars?

What kind of comment is this? What does it even mean to have a "better" dream?

[colordrops]

Everyone is required to fix the worlds problems before doing anything else. At least that is how the thinking goes, which is absurd in most cases. Though there is some nuance here considering Bezos' absolute detestable behavior climbing on the backs of abused workers to get to this point.

It's an old story, as expressed by Dr. Seuss in his story Yertle the Turtle:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yertle_the_Turtle_and_Other_St...

[unfunco]

Maybe Jeffrey Bezos will return a changed man and give his warehouse staff proper piss bottles instead of used drinking water bottles.

[lostlogin]

Oxfam’s Deepak Xavier vented about the billionaire-hobbies issue early this week.

https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/billionaires-blast-s...

[zzzeek]

it's an entirely appropriate dream for a child. for a society with enormous intractable problems such as global warming, income inequality, and fascism, it's pretty lame.

[aerovistae]

It's lame to dream of space until utopia is achieved? Until life is perfect, NASA should be shut down? Do all 7.5b people on earth need to dream of solving the same problems? Is eliminating diversity of dreams constructive? If your teenage daughter told you she wanted to go to school to be an astronaut, would you tell her that was lame?

[ericd]

Well, I’d say that few things are likely to really drive home to people how insignificant the little power struggles we spend so much of our life obsessing about as going up into space and looking down on everything, and then looking out into the infinite void.

If it makes everyone who can afford to go more circumspect about that, I think it’ll have been completely worth it, even ignoring all the useful stuff that’ll come out of it.

Also, off topic, but thanks very much for all the things you make, they’re wonderful.

[Seanambers]

It is a quirk of evolution that this kind of thinking is around. This defeatist unwillingnes to do. Imagine if man had never ventured from Africa, or from the trees to the savannah - I bet even back then there were those who chose to stay behind. Where are they now?

There is something so unimaginative about this kind of thinking it's really off putting.

As a society one should always strive to do better in all areas, not only in the areas you deem worthy.

[AtlasBarfed]

I actually think space tourism for the rich is very important.

We are entering an age of global techno oligarchy

I want my masters to see the earth from space. Get a feel for the stakes, see the delicate ribbon of air, the vastness of space.

See it as the rare jewel we spent a short time on, and the obligation to treat it well

[rurp]

I don't know why this is being downvoted since it makes total sense to me. It's not a good thing that the mega rich have an absurd amount of power over society, but it's a fact for the foreseeable future. There is precedent for people becoming much more conscientious about the planet after returning from space, so it's certainly possible that billionaires playing with rockets will have some positive second order effects.

[peatmoss]

It is indeed a phenomenon that others have experienced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect

[ceejayoz]

Most of the folks who've been up so far are military and science oriented folks; there's a bit of an existing tendency to think in that direction. I'm not sure the personality required to become a billionaire is necessarily going to result in the same feelings looking at Earth from orbit.

"It's small, I want to own the others" might be the Bezos response.

[peatmoss]

Perhaps, but I think that’s speculation based in cynicism. By the same reasoning, wouldn’t a military person look down and say, “I want to subjugate the others by force?”

I’m more inclined to believe that there is something intrinsically profound in seeing all the known life in the universe in one field of view. I also am inclined to believe that billionaires are just the world’s most wealth-atypical people, not the world’s most neuro-atypical people, and thus would respond in the typical way to the overview.

But maybe that’s an optimism bias on my part.

[sodafountan]

On the contrary, it could also be a universal human emotion in the same way that people are awe-struck when they visit the Grand Canyon or Redwood Forest.

It could end up being a very therapeutic endeavor for the average person if space-tourism becomes more accessible, putting people's problems in perspective.

[RobRivera]

where's the steering committee for quality of dreams? I am still waiting on feedback for my dream of a loving family and no more nightmares.

[gameswithgo]

i hope people quit being insufferable downers

[RIMR]

For real, people straight up fetishize the experience of "going to space", but the reality is that you're crammed in stinky tin can for a while, and eat preserved food.

The real magic of human spaceflight for me is the science that is done up there. Sending a bunch of untrained rich people into space for the fun of it is not especially inspiring. The idea of getting crammed like sardines into a giant rocket so I can experience this with the masses is just not a great dream.

[Ajedi32]

Space is inspiring to a lot of people because it represents both the the peak of human achievement, and humanity's future. Space is the final frontier; the next logical step in humankind's unending quest to explore the universe.

For me personally? I just want to mess around in 0G for a day or two. That seems like it'd be a rather unique experience; well worth a few thousand bucks and a couple hours packed shoulder to shoulder in a ship with a thousand other people.

[mam3]

If you cant dream beyond what you eat and the distance you can go in each direction its totally fine but dont impose it to other people

[mesozoic]

Cheaper and safer to just drop some acid.

[samstave]

But for a $10k vacation, you get to sleep in a bed, order room service, go outside, go golfing, see a show, etc.

10k in space will get you what?

---

Random thought:

If they were able to get enough water into space such that one could swim through a sphere of water in a weightless environment, what would the sensation of being encapsulated in water while weightless feel like (clearly needing scuba or some other air connection..)

[bdjk68hsk]

> But for a $10k vacation, you get to sleep in a bed, order room service, go outside, go golfing, see a show, etc.

And what if you’ve already done all that?

Private jets (well, fractional ownership) gets boring after a few years.

[awrence]

Random reply:

Or you can stay here on earth, go scuba diving and experience the exact same weightlessness... :)

[colordrops]

It's not the same - that's buoyancy, not weightlessness. Gravity still exerts force on your body and internal organs, and you feel orientation, i.e. up and down. It's a very different feeling.

[samstave]

That's why I was asking!

What would the difference in sensation be for one who is submerged on earth, versus one who is encapsulated in a floating sphere of water...

[_moof]

There’s no buoyancy without weight so it wouldn’t feel like anything until you moved. Then you’d have the same drag forces you would on Earth. It’s unlikely the sphere would stay together very long with nothing to hold it together.

[samstave]

SCUBAG

Is what we need to invent then...

[MiddleEndian]

>go golfing

lol you would have to pay me to go golfing

[samstave]

Retarded response... you know what I meant. Go to the pub and wait for this to all blow over.