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> ... two private citizens ... have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission. Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will trav
by clebio 10y ago
> ... two private citizens ... have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission. Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind ...
Except that these two private citizens are presumably absurdly wealthy. Whereas the nationalize space program which brought forth the Apollo mission gave all private citizens, as well as schoolchildren for generations, hope and aspirational outlooks.
Whereas the current national situation in the US, with respect to primary-school education and government-supported science is quite dire. So things are not at all hopeful right now, and many of us suffer nightmares of violence and deportation.
So, there's that.
- gozur88 10y ago>Except that these two private citizens are presumably absurdly wealthy. Whereas the nationalize space program which brought forth the Apollo mission gave all private citizens, as well as schoolchildren for generations, hope and aspirational outlooks. I doubt it's any more difficult to get absurdly wealthy than to become an astronaut.
- zardo 10y agoI'm sure they only sell you a ticket if you pulled yourself up out of the slums by your own bootstraps. No old money allowed.
- gozur88 10y agoWhat's your point?
- peteretep 10y agoBeing born wealthy doesn't require much expended effort from the recipient of the wealth.
- gozur88 10y agoWhich is relevant how?
- peteretep 10y ago> I doubt it's any more difficult to > get absurdly wealthy than to become > an astronaut Not very many people are born as astronauts, but some people are born very wealthy.
- gozur88 10y agoYes, but the point was if you're not born wealthy you probably have a better chance of becoming wealthy than becoming a NASA astronaut. Also, why do some people think being born with money is somehow bad, but being born with intelligence and drive is good? Aren't they both down to luck?
- k__ 10y agoIn the end, they send Trump to space.
- TeMPOraL 10y agoSure, but right now no country actually has a deep-space human mission program. So SpaceX doing what they do is actually pretty exciting for everyone - especially that the express intent of Elon is to significantly drop down the costs of getting to space. If they can succeed in that then who knows, maybe our children will have an actual chance of leaving this planet, even if for a short while.
- SmellyGeekBoy 10y agoThe first cars were only accessible to the "absurdly wealthy". So was air travel. Most things when you think about them, in fact. That doesn't mean the rest of us didn't aspire to have them and eventually have access to them thanks to all that early adopter funded R&D.