[mac187]

I think all the cost is justified if it was true space exploration. This is, at best a flight to beginnings of outer space to feel weightlessness for few mins. It would have been more meaningful if Branson would have spent hours if not a day or two in space and then returned back to earth.

This is my understanding of this PR stunt, unless I am missing something.

SpaceX is planning about taking people to Mars, now that is, in true sense of the word 'Space Exploration'.
P.S: I am not Elon fan boy.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by giri1.8

Sounds like something we all Bhpians do! By this logic, we all should be riding around on bicycles or 100cc motorbikes.

In a world full of hungry people starving to death, we choose to follow our dreams and ride cars/bikes and spend time to talk about our passion. We in the eyes of the poor look the same way Richard looks to ours.

Well said. The same incorrect arguments were made when ISRO was working on the Mars orbiter - why don't we feed the starving children instead with that money?

It remains just as incorrect.

[azeemhafiz]

Here is what I struggle to understand. Although marketed and branded really well, I do not understand what this exercise / expedition achieves that was not already achieved by Burt Rutan with his Tier One project that won the Ansari X prize back in 2004. 17 years ago.

This project was funded by Paul Allen and was the first privately funded human spaceflight. Virgin basically developed based on the foundation and pioneering done by these guys and send their founder and employees to space 17 years later.

To me, it seems more closer to a cooler / next level roller coaster ride v/s first step to StarTrek that most folks make it out to be.What am I missing?

For those of us who want to know more about the phenomenal feat that Burt Rutan accomplished. Here are a few starter points. Enjoy your trip down the rabbit hole.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaled...sites_Tier_One
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Rutan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipOne
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansari_X_Prize

There is a super cool documentary called Black Sky - Race for Space which is worth checking out

[bullock-Car]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

ong In a world where there is no dearth of poverty, lack of healthcare, lack of access to education, infant mortality, hunger and so much more to celebrate spending billions of $ for what is in effect a joy ride is a travesty. In olden days kings through lavish feasts while famine stalked the land. This is the same thing on a 1000X scale. Sadly 50 other billionaires will follow suit.

An interesting article about the billionaires taking the lead instead of institutions like NASA. Three points from the article are listed below;
1. NASA agency is at the mercy of a political system providing not only its funding but also its leadership, both of which can shift dramatically every few years.

2. Entrepreneurs like Musk and Bezos have been able to identify the gap left by an aging and inefficient institution like NASA, seize the opportunity to build a better rocket and paint a bolder vision for the future.
3. Musk's grand ambition of populating Mars, or Bezos' plan to move industry into orbit, are unprecedented, civilization-level endeavors that were conceived based primarily upon the whims of just two men.
4. Complaining about billionaires wasting money on space when we have so many problems on Earth misses the point. What should be concerning, is how the agenda and the public discourse on space are now largely driven by some of the world's very richest individuals.


https://www.cnet.com/news/the-real-p...oing-to-space/