Leaving A Planet In Crisis: Here’s Why Many Say The Billionaire Space Race Is A Terrible Idea - Forbes

Topline

The four minutes billionaire Richard Branson spent in a state of weightlessness on the edge of space this weekend was a historic feat in the burgeoning space tourism business, but many critics say Branson and other billionaires are missing the mark by looking to the stars, leaving behind a planet rife with problems that big investments might be able to fix.

Key Facts

Branson, 71, traveled about 50 miles above the Earth's surface on his Virgin Galactic spacecraft as part of an effort to "evaluate the private astronaut experience" on Sunday, beating out fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos in the race to escape the Earth's atmosphere.

Bezos, the world's richest man, is planning to head to space on his Blue Origin craft on July 20, and will travel farther from Earth's surface than Branson—some 62 miles.

He'll be accompanied by a fellow space tourist who paid $28 million for a seat on the spaceflight.

Elon Musk hasn't announced plans on shooting himself away from Earth (yet), but his company—SpaceX—is widely considered the leader in the private space industry, and Musk has made it known his top priority is to make humans an "interplanetary species."

Critics point out the big money focus on space is coming at an especially vulnerable point on Earth—where the Covid pandemic is still causing widespread death while historic heatwaves prompt concerns global warming has reached a dangerous new level.

The United Nations has also repeatedly warned widespread famines could come to poor nations as a result of the pandemic, and the U.N. released a report on Monday finding 811 million were undernourished during 2020.

Crucial Quote

"Is anyone else alarmed that billionaires are having their own private space race while record-breaking heatwaves are sparking a 'fire-breathing dragon of clouds' and cooking sea creatures to death in their shells?" former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich tweeted on Thursday.

Contra

Branson's brief trip to space wasn't totally without scientific merit. Sirisha Bandla, Virgin Galactic's vice president of government affairs and research operations, flew with Branson on Sunday and conducted an experiment on plant gene expression. The experiment itself was also a test of whether scientific research is feasible on Virgin Galactic's spaceflights. Based on Bandla's account after landing, her mission was a success.

Key Background

The driving force behind space travel has shifted away from its long history of massive government projects to private industry over the past few years. SpaceX's May 2020 launch of two NASA astronauts from Kennedy Space Center in Florida marked the first manned launch from U.S. soil since 2011, with SpaceX becoming the first private company to send astronauts to the International Space Station during the same mission. Musk's company has since been chosen as the sole company that will create spacecraft for NASA's upcoming Artemis mission to send astronauts back to the Moon, beating out Blue Origin for the contract. But the shift to privatization hasn't just put billionaire's companies at the forefront of scientific achievements—it's accelerated the push for space tourism programs, which for now come with price tags solely restricted to the ultra-wealthy. There's also already been talk of luxury space hotels. Orbital Assembly Corporation announced plans earlier this year for a 280-guest hotel called Voyager Station, which it said will open in 2027. The company hopes to work with SpaceX as a partner on the project.

Big Number

$6 billion. That's how much money it would take to save 41 million people set to die of hunger this year worldwide, according to U.N. World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley. Beasley sent a tweet late last month urging Musk, Branson and Bezos to team up to fight hunger, saying, "We can solve this quickly!"

Tangent

A widely shared petition asking for Bezos to not be allowed to return to Earth has gathered more than 150,000 signatures. "Billionaires should not exist...on earth, or in space, but should they decide the latter, they should stay there," the petition's creator said on change.org.