Can space tourism really change the space industry?
Space tourism has come pretty far in a historically short period of time. The idea was a bit of a joke in the late 1990s, but today it is firmly established in the world consciousness with the fourth genuine space tourist, Anousheh Ansari, who is also the first Muslim woman to go into space as well as being the first female private space voyager. The public is now aware that there are a few very rich adventurers who are ready to pay the $20-million price tag to travel into orbit. As far as it goes this is a good thing for the industry as a whole: it has changed the ultra-elite militarized “Right Stuff” image of human space travel to one that is almost as elite but is nevertheless more understandable.
