Thread by @weatherindia

Three Horsemen of #SpaceTourism —#RichardBranson, #JeffBezos and #ElonMusk! What Are the Implications?

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(📸: Twitter/IANS)

Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity space-plane's seemingly simple flight marked a huge milestone一the beginning of commercial space flights, a pipe dream cradled by #RichardBranson, #JeffBezos, and #ElonMusk, the big three of privately funded space travel companies.

Onboard VSS Unity, #RichardBranson lived his dream of watching the earth from space; #JeffBezos is next in line with a space flight of his own company Blue Origin, scheduled to take off next Tuesday, July 20, 2021.

#ElonMusk’s SpaceX has already been taking crew members for trips to the International Space Station and plans to send an all-civilian crew into orbit in September 2021. Under the dearMoon Project, the first commercial space flight to the moon has been announced for 2023.

- The dreams of the rich

Space tourism is an extravagantly costly affair and will remain the same until the next few decades. @virgingalactic has also announced that they have more than 600 ticket reservations already, each priced at around $250,000 (₹ 1.86 crores).

The company hopes to begin full-fledged commercial space travel by 2022, with ticket prices slashed to around $40,000. #BlueOrigin also plans to sell around $1 billion in #Amazon stock annually to fund similar space tourism ventures.

#ElonMusk has also declared that #SpaceX will fly Japanese billionaire #YusakuMaezawa on a trip around the moon in its upcoming Starship rocket in 2023.

Alongside appraisals, the increasing number of space flights with billionaire civilians queuing up to travel to space has attracted criticism along the lines of risks involved and climate concerns.

#RichardBranson #JeffBezos #ElonMusk

Dysfunctional satellites have continued to add to the artificial ‘space junk’ floating around in the lower atmosphere, impeding scientific research and adding to pollutant accumulation even beyond our planet.

#RichardBranson #JeffBezos #ElonMusk

The booming new industry of space tourism trends allow better transfer of space technologies to fight Earthly problems and boost private investment in science and technology. However, unregulated space travel could be a threat not just for travellers but also for the planet.