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Richard Branson unveils his new White Knight II plane rocket. This new model is an improvement on the old White Knight and will be the largest aircraft in the world when built. It is made entirely from carbon composite, which is both a light, and strong material that I am sure in time will be used in ever more products. There is no doubt that this is another step forward in aviation technology.
But is space tourism really viable as a commercial enterprise? Branson seems to think so, but just because he thinks so does not necessarily make it so. A ticket on White Knight II would cost $200,000. Out of the reach of your average Joe. For now space tourism is just for the rich. Maybe one day it will become affordable to the average person. Even if it were, what is there thousands of miles up in a tin can that there is not down here on planet Earth?
Besides the view and micro gravity conditions, which might be fun for a short while, there is not much else and likewise while it would be fun to spend time on a desert island in the Pacific swimming in the Ocean, you would grow bored of it after a while.
Not really all that many people go on holiday to desert islands considering that it would be within many people’s financial limits. So is space tourism just a fad to be enjoyed occasionally by the rich but mainly just used like so much else as a new status symbol to separate the rich from the merely wealthy. Many of the rich that have their own desert islands rarely go and visit them leaving much of the worlds desert islands and the new Dubai as deserted paradises. Branson’s planned orbiting space hotels may end up as deserted as Mir in the end.
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Originally Posted by jcdf