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John Lynch is a senior news reporter and writes “Fine Print” for The Daily News. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper.
Growing up, “Star Trek” always had a hold on me.
Gene Roddenberry’s groundbreaking series, which has now spawned a dozen shows over six decades, has always envisioned a world where our differences are relics of our past. Captain Kirk and the crew showed us a world where humanity’s goals were no longer based on our desire to dominate ourselves but rather to explore the stars and work for the common good.
I don’t think Elon Musk got the memo.
The problem I always had with “Star Trek” was that it was set in the future, which meant I wouldn’t see this idealistic utopia come true. People like Musk, owner of auto company Tesla and space travel company SpaceX, are actively compounding this disappointment.
Our motivations for going to space, quite simply, are not pure. That’s not to say they never have been – the only reason the 20th century space race happened was to put nuclear weapons in space to gain the upper hand in the Cold War. – but our motivations for leaving our blue marble behind haven’t exactly been anything better.
Billionaires like Musk, Jeff Bezos or Richard Branson, who have all invested heavily in space exploration and transportation, are not here for the last frontier – they are for more money.
To understand how we got here, we have to look back over decades of space travel. Following the success of the Apollo missions to the Moon, the continued space race has become too expensive and politically unpopular to continue to receive the abundant funds it received in the 1960s, according to one. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) report.
NASA would continue after the moon landing with the launch of space shuttles, reusable exploration vehicles that would ultimately be responsible for the deployment of hundreds of vital satellites like the Hubble Telescope and the International Space Station (ISS). However, even with the success of the ISS, sending astronauts into space became prohibitive and funding for NASA stagnated.
Equally important, the work of NASA has given the world countless scientists progress that we use in our everyday life. We owe CT scans, LED lights, modern home insulation, infant formula, phone cameras, and most importantly, laptops to the innovations NASA made during their heyday in the space race. How many of these inventions do you think for-profit companies would have given to the world out of the goodness of their hearts?
At its peak in 1964, NASA’s budget was over $ 57 billion, more than 500 billion dollars in money today, a really huge sum at the time. NASA’s budget for 2021? $ 24.8 billion.
Enter the billionaire astronaut. In the early 2000s, as the space shuttle program began to wind down, private companies began to find success in the world of space travel. Notable actors like Musk’s SpaceX, Branson’s Virgin Galactic, and Bezos’ Blue Origin have all sent several successful flights into space. These missions performed various tasks in their first years, including test flights, satellite deployments and refueling to the ISS.
However, with that comes a big caveat: These guys are privatizing the Last Frontier.
Calling these companies vanity projects may, in fact, be inaccurate – even silly. But what exactly did we aspire to when Musk shot a Tesla Roadster in orbit in 2018?
The “Enterprise” spacecraft, it was not.
2021 has been the Year of the Billionaire Astronaut, a full-fledged space race fueled by the egos of some of the world’s most fantastically rich people. Branson went to space on July 11 while Bezos had to languish in Earth’s gravity until July 20. Poor guy.
Maggie Getzin, DN Illustration
Turns out, billionaires aren’t, in fact, explorers. They are first and foremost businessmen, and they will continue to be businessmen no matter where they are in our solar system.
The funny thing is that Musk, Bezos, and Branson can really believe they’re helping the world by pushing the privatization of space into the modern age. They may even be right. However, they are not doing it for the right reasons.
We will no longer go into space to deepen human knowledge or unravel the secrets of our universe. We are going based on ego and profit.
Yes, SpaceX intends to put humans on Mars.
Yes, private companies have taken over where NASA could not continue in the 21st century.
No, that doesn’t make them fair.
The idea of space exploration has captured the imaginations of millions of people and brought together even more. The moon landing – which is real, by the way – united the country when they saw Neil Armstrong make his “giant leap for humanity”. Millions of people around the world have been able to experience the story as we pushed towards a goal few thought they could achieve.
The difference between these eras of space travel is who has the means to get to space.
Keep in mind that some of these space venture capitalists only made it so far with substantial assistance from the US government. In 2015, Musk companies like Tesla, SolarCity and SpaceX received $ 4.9 billion in government funding. While the private sector has been successful in space, it would not be without the help of taxpayers. If we are prepared to pour so much money into the private sector, over which we have no control, then why not fund our own program?
We are already on the verge of witnessing the beginning of the transition from space to the public sector. NASA intends to send astronauts to the moon via its new Artemis program in 2024, but guess who will take us there? SpaceX and its $ 2.89 billion contract with the agency.
With NASA at the helm, space travel and exploration was owned by the government and, to some extent, by the people. With the Musks and Bezos of the world in the lead, the knowledge we might gain and the progress we might make is in the hands of for-profit companies.
The precedent is too dangerous, and there is too much at stake to put our future in space in the hands of the rich. Our intentions have never been perfect in space, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make our next “giant leap” with better ones.
Contact John Lynch with comments at [email protected] or on Twitter @WritesLynch.
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