Space Tourism: A Dream? Really?

As humanity, we stand on earth for a certain time thanks to carbon-based life. Every human being acts in order to survive, to be happy and to realize himself in the end. Self-actualization can produce different goals/results for each life form. When we look up as human beings, we can argue that we are in a very successful place in terms of making sense of the different dynamics community that is so far away from us. After all, as the owners of a ten-thousand-year-old civilization and a two-thousand-year common heritage, our level of knowledge about space is increasing day by day. So, can we consider space as a tourism area apart from scientific activities? Doesn't it hold great opportunities in a world where experiential tourism is gaining popularity day by day?

Spacecraft and rocket capabilities have improved a lot since Laika the Dog aboard the Soviet Union's Sputnik 2 in 1957, but the potential for viable space tourism is relatively new.

In 2001, the first traveler to make his own journey into space was American millionaire engineer Dennis Anthony Tito. This was actually a historical event. For the first time, an ordinary citizen decided to go to space and was able to fulfill this wish. Dennis Tito was the first of eight space tourists to reach the International Space Station using Space Adventures private company services.

Many developments have occurred since the first touristic space travel. Space Adventures has become just one of the few companies with the willingness and money to send citizens into space. Companies like Virgin, Blue Origin, StratoLaunch, and SpaceX have begun building their own ships and developing new systems to reduce the cost of aircraft carriers from tens of millions to several hundred thousand dollars. For now, potential tourists don't have as many options as we think a sixty-year-old industry should have. Of course there are some possibilities, but it's still very difficult to get this far off the ground.

How much should we budget for a trip to space?

Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are two companies that are candidates to become the leaders of space tourism, but they will not take passengers into space in the first place. Instead, they will reach the edge of space by crossing the imaginary boundary known as the karma line 62 miles above. However, these passengers will be able to experience how Alan Shepard felt on his first flight into space. Of course, if we come to the budget of the business, a single ticket on the ship developed by the Blue Origin company, founded by Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, will cost between $ 200,000 and $ 300,000.

While some circles argue that space tourism will remain an activity that only a limited audience with a very high income can participate in, others argue that this sector will revive quickly and become an important industrial sector just like air transport. Supporting the second approach and prepared by 21 countries and 40 experts under the leadership of the International Space University (ISU), the report titled "Space Tourism - From Dream to Reality" states that space tourism will start soon and will become a major industry in 50 years. Companies such as SpaceX, Stratolaunch, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin are getting closer and closer to shaping the industry and making dreams come true thanks to the new technologies they develop.

One of the most important developments that will affect space tourism is the possibility of a very strong competition between both tourists and companies, according to the decreasing trend of costs. Space Adventures president Eric Anderson said it's possible for 140 people to fly by the 2020s. He also stated that "if we can predict the same results in the period beyond the 2020s, the costs of flying into orbit could be reduced to several thousand dollars, largely thanks to new, privately funded rockets and capsules."

European Space Agency astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy said: "Travellers who have the money, time and courage to try space tourism will be ambassadors." “

So what do the first space tourists think?

The first female space tourist, US entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari, whom I had the opportunity to meet at the chat meeting held in cooperation with Ashoka Turkey and Starting Point, recently, organized The Adventurers' Survey, which focused on the feelings and experiences of space travelers when she returned to Earth.

The Adventurers Questionnaire was created to provide feedback on space transportation and related services and spacecraft.

Looking at some of the results of the survey:

• The common perception for space tourism was that the prices were still very high.

• It turns out that 66% of them want to go back to space to get around the moon.

• It was found that the respondents had no idea about the spacecraft design. However, the majority indicated that they wanted a direct vertical launch or a "all horizontal" design in a format they were used to in airplanes.

Beyond what appeared in the survey, Anousheh Ansari also shared a very important experience about the perspective that humanity will gain by going into space in the event on February 4: The idea that going to space allows us to look at the world from a very different angle and gives us the perception of a single world without borders that hosts all of us. At this point, the fact that space tourism will create a brand new mental worldview for humanity is exciting and very meaningful.

At this point, it is also necessary to remember, understand and reflect on Carl Sagan's comments on the Earth photograph taken from the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

“Look at that point again. It's our home. It is us. Everyone you love and know, heard of, living or dead, is on it. The sum of all our joy and sorrow, thousands of contradictory religions, ideologies and economic teachings; Every hunter and gatherer, every hero and coward, every founder and destroyer of civilization, every king and farmer, every couple in love, every mother and father, every hopeful child, inventor, explorer, moral teacher, politician, every superstar, every “high leader”, every saint and sinner is on him – in that speck of dust that hangs over a ray of sunlight.”