interview with Robert Bigelow p. 68

Basically this article is an interview with Robert Bigelow, a billionaire Las Vegas business man, and he wants to commercialize space travel. I think it is a cool idea to be able to travel to space granted you have the proper funds. Bigelows argument is that NASA has wasnt billions of taxpayers dollars and he could provide stable economics. If I were an american taxpayer i would be disappointed NASA has nothing to show for it. I'd also be glad that they're now using someone elses money

Hey buddy! I really don't agree with commercializing space travel, cause how many people in the world would actually have the kind of money to use that kind of travel. Only people with billions of dollars. People like us would never have the chance to experience that kind of reality to see from the eyes of an astronaut. it just would not be fair to the rest of the world.

i understand what you mean about it not being fair to everyone else, but thats the beauty of capitalism. lol. if you have a dream like going to space and the resources necessary (aka $$$$) why shouldnt you be able to do it?

But what about us the people who would never have that kind of resources? have that kind of chance?. I think it would be a really good idea if they did allow commercialized space travel. but not till it could actually be available to everyone! I agree with you completely, its just would not be fair to see people who have all the money they can just throw it away anytime they want, when we can't afford to throw away money like that.

I really think that as it is right now it would be impossible to make space travel a legitimate business....atleast from a tourism sense. Everything can be commercialised so its not really a matter of if space travel will become a business but when. It all comes back to the almighty dollar and the american way (being able to make a quick buck). Its a very interesting idea and when the technology comes along to make it affordable I can see that space travel would be as easy and accesible as booking a flight to Mexico or wherever your favorite vacation spot is. The only problem would be greedy billionairs who would try to "control" space and turn it into realestate. That might be the deciding factor when it comes to whether or not the U.N decides to make this feasable or not (and i say the U.N cause i really hope that this becomes an international issue). Again, only time will tell what will happen but if history is any indicator then i would expect to see posters for flights to the nearest moon base in the near future

Mannn i dont think they should commercialize space travel, not because of the cost but because of the messed up people who will take this idea and try to manipulate it into there crazy ways for example people wanting to leave there mark in space like we cant even keep our own earth clean so why open up a new area to dirty up i just dont think the world is ready for this big of a step in todays society.

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Mannn i dont think they should commercialize space travel, not because of the cost but because of the messed up people who will take this idea and try to manipulate it into there crazy ways for example people wanting to leave there mark in space like we cant even keep our own earth clean so why open up a new area to dirty up i just dont think the world is ready for this big of a step in todays society.

I don't think people who are in control would let the people who use Space Travel to unclean this "new area". The people who would be in control would let the people use these sort of facilities for mans own good, not to "unclean" as you said above. I think the world is ready for this big step, its just that we should be ready and certain that we can control what could occur. And i stilll believe that the world should wait til it could be as easy as taking a flight to a local country as Antonio Saccomanno had stated, so that everyone could experience that sort of exhilaration.

I have to agree with Josh Konu when it comes to an environmental standpoint but commercialism is such a huge, driving force that I think it will cause technology to advance incredibly quickly. Like the need to conquer the air for military puposes led humans from developing the first aircraft to landing on the moon in a span of only 60 years, I believe that the untold fortunes that lay in space tourism will cause the rapid advance of safe, reliable, and efficient means of transportation to the moon, making the environmental factor negligible.

Antonio Saccomanno wrote:

It all comes back to the almighty dollar and the american way (being able to make a quick buck).

yes antonio! if you build it they will come. no matter what the cost.

Yes I also think that if possible, this would such a big technological advance. As long as it can be affordable to all, the effects of space travel would benefit both our economy and broaden our understanding on astronomy.

marvin, would it really broaden our understand of the universe or just "snobify" it. If a space tourism market opened up, it wouldn't be meager scientists that actually could do work in space, it would be paris hilton and oprah in space lol

haha maybe so, but not if we can help it. We could reserve a specific area (majority) for scientific research and work and then a smaller area for commercializing purposes for such "tourists" lol

I think the possibility of commercialized space travel will not reasonable for another 20-30 years. Even then, the cost and resources to start up and maintain such a buisness would be substantial. But sure, if rich Robert Bigelow decides thats what he wants to do with his money in 20 years then go for it; I dont think I'd pay too much money to travel in space unless i was travelling to the moon . It'd be a neat experience, yes, but largely because of the feel of 0 gravity (in my opinion). Earth already has simulations of what it feels like to be weightless, and I can see these becoming more common in 10 years or so. But to go for a ride in space seems like too much money for a decently large risk. Plane rides are scary enough for me.

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Even then, the cost and resources to start up and maintain such a buisness would be substantial. But sure, if rich Robert Bigelow decides thats what he wants to do with his money in 20 years then go for it; I dont think I'd pay too

I completely agree with Taylor about how if your gonna waste all your money on something that might not be ready for several decades that's your deal. But a guy like Robert Bigelow might not even be around to see it happen... so why waste the remainder of your life doing somethign you probably will never see happen. I would rather help the peple in need of that money, like people in poverty or third world cuntries. Personally i think its like burning all your money to try and commercialize space travel, if you might not even be alive to see it.

Exactly. If one has enough money to even consider commercializing space travel, then they can definitly consider using that money towards some major problems in society today - rather than on something which will take centuries to inaugurate.

i understand using the money to better use but there are so many different ways u can do that also like we obviously don't know the benefits of commercial space travel if it is expanded, so there is a potential for it to be a benefit to human society however there is poverty and all that in the world today. thing is if everyone pitched in we would all be living a good life which will cause a gap between the rich and poor to decrease and according to the rich people wanting to space travel they wouldn't be able to afford it because everyone will have a closer gap in net worth causing the price of space travel to rise. so why would the rich give up some wealth to lose some of there status, money today takes morals away from people nowadays.

To be honest i wouldn't mind shortening the gap between the classes, cause if that means no struggling for the third world countries to survive over commercializing Space Travel... I say screw Space Travel!!!!!!

And what would mankind benefit from commercializing space travel?

Commercializing space travel, in my view, would only expose regular citizens such as us to the wonders of space. This and only this. It will make possible to travel and see from perspective a other than the ground on our earth or the window of an airplane. I think society would be thrilled to have this as a recreational activity, but not for any reasons other than the excitement of being in space. Scientists/astronauts are the ones who will study space or go out into space and discover new ideas which may benefit mankind, but not, in my opinion, a family of five on their yearly space adventure.

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a family of five on their yearly space adventure.

I kind of agree with you Taylor, Scientists/astronauts are the ones who will study space or go out into space and discover new ideas but the thing is... for a a family of five to actually go en route with their "space adventure" they would have to go through the exact same training as a astronaut would first before even thinking of going up there. And to become an astronaut it takes years. So why not just become an astronaut and make more money!? lol

To be an astronaut you have to be in an ideal physical shape. And to be honest if this were the US, that family of five, WOULD NOT be physically fit LOL

I agree and I was speaking solely with regards to whether or not commercialized space travel could benefit mankind. And when referencing that family of five, I meant that they would be unable to provide any sort of benefit of their own to society. They would enjoy a unique trip in space but I think it ends there.
Commercialized space travel could be beneficial, in a sense, that while researching for this project, other information/ideas could surface in order to benefit scientists and ultimately mankind.

I understand where Taylor is coming from, and i do agree. It would be an amazing experience to go to space! and maybe feel what it would be to be an astronaut.

Peopel would love this sort of "vacation", but like Taylor said it probably won't happen for many decades... But when we get that sort of technology, it would be soooo cool

Yes, commercializing space travel can be seen as wasting money but that only applies to people that would use these priviledges for selfish reasons such as for self-entertainment. But also know that providing ways to get more of our scientists and researchers into space, imagine how much knowledge and new discoveries we would gain...

In my opinion, I think commercializing space travel would be a great idea, I mean how often do people actually get to see what's happening in space?

The bad thing about this space travel would be the amount of money involved. There's no doubt that this travel could cost billions of dollars, and will there actually be enough money to get this space travel going? Possibly, but still it's not going to be easy getting all that money. There are some people who will disagree with commercializing space travel, like those in the less developed countries would say, "why not use the money on us,(for food,shelter, etc), instead of using it on something that maybe won't work in the end", so yeah, there are some advantages of commercializing space travel and some disadvantages.

I think the amount of money being used to do programs such as these could be used on earth first, where people are actually suffering and begging for money. I understand that science can't be stopped due to social and economic problems of society, but it's gotten to a point where they really have to stop expanding projects and investments when they can barely keep up with what they already have. If people really want to know about space this bad then I think the money should be used to expand space and science programs so that the people who do want it that badly can get trained properly and use it to their own advantage.There's probably ALOT of negative things that come with doing this, both on earth and for space, and I think that these big ideas shouldn't be passed without careful consideration. I agree that this could help us by potentially expanding research etc, but once you start something as big as this you can't easily stop it. I'm thinking the idea is centered around the money it can make, but i also think that it would cost even more to fix the mess that it could potentialy make as well.

I totally agree with you, as I see it, our economics are on the downside at the moment, and if we do decide to use a large amount of money in commercializing space travel, Like what you said, "There's probably ALOT of negative things that come with doing this" and I find that true, For example, if the commercializing space travel was successful, there probably would be something that goes wrong in space which would effect the earth and eventually somehow affect all of us in some way.

Also, I think this space travel thing can wait, cause even if scientists do discover something, wouldn't they just need even more money to expand on their discovery? I think any amount of money should first be used on those in need. People these days are having a hard time getting by with what they have, many people in developing countries cannot meet their basic needs, by using the money on those people, it wouldn't be a waste, cause you know where the money is going and what help is being done with the money! unlike the space travel... you could be wasting all the money you were given with at the start and in the end, you get nothing out of it.

In my opinion I don't think space traveling is the only way to gain new discoveries. We can expand our knowledge and discoveries with other things too, it doesn't have to be done by commercializing space travel.