Private Space Travel

Testimony Before the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee

Washington D.C., June 26, 2001

Rick N. Tumlinson

President, The Space Frontier Foundation

The committee has asked us to address a few questions about the idea of private space travel. I call it that as I think the term “space tourism” does not begin to capture what is really going on in what may well be the next major trend of human history, and frankly, not everyone going into space is a so called “tourist” simply because they don’t work for the government.

After thirty years of passively watching the exploration of space from the comfort of their couches, Americans are ready to join in the fun. In surveys, large numbers of people express their interest in the chance to fly in space, and firms promising short sub-orbital flights to the edge of space have already taken deposits from thousands of customers. The question is no longer if civilians will be able to journey beyond the Earth, but when, how much will it cost and where will they go when they get there?

Recently, we witnessed one answer. The flight of Dennis Tito to the International Space Station Alpha was one of the most historic moments in the opening of space. Far from being the glitch or one-of event that some in the traditional space community would like to believe, his arrival at Alpha heralded the opening of a new phase in the exploration – and now utilization – of the space frontier.

Mr. Tito is the first of many who have lived their lives to share the dream of space, and are now able to use their own resources to get there. At a time of drastic cut backs in available funds and resources for the traditional space exploration community, the large sums of money he and others are willing to pay to fly should not be ignored. He represents a potentially huge market for space transportation, entertainment and housing that will completely transform the space industry in the next few years, if it is recognized and managed correctly. Although many have proposed their own “killer apps” for space, flying people to and from space has often been ridiculed, ignored or pushed off into the distant future by those of limited vision, and those whose focus ends at today’s government budget. 

For those of us who believe that opening the frontier to human settlement is the real goal of space exploration, this is exactly the “killer app” we have been looking for. Of course, in yet another irony of history, it is both the most obvious, and until recently one of the most ridiculed areas of space development. Due to the fantastic success of the early Apollo program (as exemplified in this hearing by my personal hero, Buzz Aldrin) and the later shuttle program, our culture has completely bought into the idea of an elitist, government run space program. This is not the fault of those running the current program, but of our leadership, who have repeatedly failed to recognize space for what it is, a place, not a program. A place so huge and vast as to stagger the minds and imaginations of even the biggest thinkers, a place where we can undertake all the activities of our human culture, while transforming that culture in the crucible of a new domain of experience. We have barely touched our collective toes to the edge of this vast new ocean, barely glimpsed its islands and wonders, and few among us have completely understood what it may mean to our nation, our civilization and the planet itself.

This is the context within which we must discuss Mr. Tito’s flight. Rather than trivializing it, or dismissing it as a stunt or the act of one crazy playboy, we must look at what it means, and the potential it represents to propel our space agenda forward.

If the federal governments of the Earth can recognize the potential of space tourism and private space travel, if they can build that recognition into their existing space programs, if they can create a partnership between the public and private humans-in-space sectors, and if they can avoid over-regulating this infant field before it has a chance to grow, within a few years, humanity will have established its first permanent foothold beyond the Earth.

Tito and  MirCorp

The visit to Alpha by Dennis Tito earlier this year was actually the second shot fired in the space revolution. The first was the year-long operation of the Russian space station Mir as a private facility. Although greatly misunderstood by the public and this body in particular, the MirCorp experiment was not simply another attempt by some eccentric group or person to try and save the space station, nor was it carried out by some anonymous “Netherlands  based” group of shills working for the Russians. MirCorp was founded by a group of American baby boomers who believed in the dream of space as a frontier, and found in the Russian firm Energia other true believers. These two very different groups joined together in the name of Tsiolkovsky and Gerry O’Neill, and tried for a shining moment to rise above international politics and secure an alternative  foothold in space for the people who are left out of the current world space programs -–ie – almost everyone.

I know what the firm was about as I helped found it. I signed the first agreements leading to its creation, named it, brought in the prime investor (Walt Anderson) and recruited the CEO, Jeff Manber. I saw the people on both sides of the table who formed the firm and I know where their hearts were…in the stars.

It was during this time that I was lucky enough to be introduced to Dennis Tito, who saw me giving a talk at a Space Tourism event about our experience trying to save the Mir. After several failed attempts to get a firm named Space Adventures to bring him to MirCorp, I went to visit in early 2000. On the way to the meeting I contacted MirCorp and told them I was “going in” as private citizen to meet with Tito, and to sign him to fly. During that meeting we looked each other in the eye and I told Mr. Tito MirCorp was real, and serious, both of which were true. He looked at me and said “I want to go.” After some discussion, we shook hands and the deal was done. I called MirCorp and Anderson from the car and told them Tito was “a go” and to contact him right away to handle deposits etc….

We met again a couple of times to re-affirm the deal and to talk over some of the challenges he was facing in the pursuit of his dream.

During the course of this, as you know, Mir was taken out of the game. This came about due to a confluence of intense behind the scenes and very public pressure on MirCorp and a couple of bad coincidences.

Around the time of President Putin’s final decree on the station’s fate, but well before Mir plummeted into the sea, Mr. Tito, originally scheduled to fly to Mir, of course changed his target and began his quest to fly to Alpha. His money was in the bank, in an escrow account. MirCorp honorably handed him over to Energia, and when Energia flew him to their side of the station, they were simply living up to what they felt was their agreement. In other words, they were keeping their word and being good business people.

He Did it His Way

The criticism leveled at Tito and Energia by some in Congress was insulting, crude, below the standards of professionalism and in at least one case, obscene. Senator Glenn went beyond hypocrisy in his statements  condemning Tito to insult the intelligence of the very taxpayers who funded his own multi-million dollar joy ride, and Senator Mikulsky, who diligently brings home the NASA bacon to her district on a regular and predictable schedule, crossed all lines by calling the Russians “pimps” – showing not only her complete ignorance of what was going on and its real ramifications, but also a lack of understanding of the word “pimp.”

In the end it was Mr. Tito himself, using his own hard earned money, and working every political and business avenue he could, who got himself on ISS. Rather than the hypocritical villification some here in Washington and a few in the space traditionalist media heaped upon him, he should be honoured for cutting a trail through the biggest obstacles in the way of those who want to open the frontier – bureaucracy, elitism, and fear of losing control by those now in charge. To be able to work your way up through life, to accumulate the resources you need to reach your own personal dream and to carry it out magnificently in the face of hard opposition is what we are taught in this culture, and it is high time someone showed us that in space. And he did. It should inspire all who are out there. So I say congratulations Mr. Tito. Congratulations, Dennis, for teaching the insular and self-deluding aero-space community what it is all about to be an American and feel your destiny is in your own hands. You may not be as tall as some of the heroes of space, such as Buzz here, you may not be as eloquent as those who are coached to say the right things in front of the cameras, nor as dashing as a TV superhero, but then none of us is, and that is the point. You are us. Congratulations!

In all the TV and radio interviews I did as a result of the Tito flight, almost none of the call-ins or other regular people I met had any problem with what he did. In fact, outside of the beltway the coverage of the event was almost totally positive. Most people even had no problem with what he paid for his ticket. They understood. “It’s his money and he can with it what he wants!” seemed to be almost the universal response when asked. 

We live in a world where physically different under-privileged kids can grow up to be multi-millionaire sports figures (no one is going to question what Shaq does with his money). Where singers and actors can make tens of millions of dollars for a single production (what does Madonna do with hers?) and where corporate leaders can drive an entire region into black outs and still get multi-million dollar bonuses. The idea that some guy “made it” and decided to use that money for something fun that he wanted to do his whole life just isn’t that big a deal. And most people also understand the economics of a new technology or pursuit as well. They know the rich will buy first, and that over time, the market will bring the price down. When asked by the occasional/ reporter to explain, all I had to say was DVD, high definition television, or computers. The challenge is, how do we set things up so that market forces will do their job and not only keep open the airlock to space for the people, but also bring the cost of getting there down so they too can afford the dream.

 The Role of Government in Space Tourism and Private Space Travel

The role of government in promoting space tourism is the same as it is on Earth. It is not to “do” space tourism, but to support it using the natural and common practices of government in relationship to private industries of all sorts. Throughout the world, governments have begun to realize that private visitors and guests can produce an economic bonanza, if they are welcomed, well treated and managed in relationship to the resources and locations they come to see. Entire nations now base their economies on tourism, and many a government bureaucracy has been turned on its head as the realization that the headaches caused by foreign devils wandering around their precious national monuments could be turned into an economic cornucopia.

Thus, at this moment in time it is important to begin re-learning what space is about, and transforming the often confusing and completely dysfunctional relationship between the private and public sectors in space, for it is only with a clean and understandable interface between the two that both can prosper.

First, I ask our government to, as the physicians say: “Do no harm!” The MirCorp experience revealed a lot of key misunderstandings of the relationship between the public and private sectors in space. The odd yet understandable protection of turf exhibited by many on our government program when it comes to “those nasty civilians’ must end. As I said in my Alpha Town testimony to this same committee several years ago, NASA and the other space agencies must begin to see the arrival of people like Dennis and firms like MirCorp in the place they have seen so long as their own play ground as symbols of success, not portents of invasion by foreign forces.

NASA and the space agencies running Alpha must begin to pull out and move on. They should never have been left in low Earth orbit for so long, especially when, (thanks to the awesome and inspiring work of Buzz and the Apollo team) the edge of the Far Frontier is out at the Moon. The Near Frontier area within the Moon’s orbit has been done and done again when it comes to basic exploration. Government employees have been flying around in circles there for thirty years or more killing any other enterprise that seemed to be edging in on their turf, as it is the only turf they have been given. Operational Near Frontier (LEO) activities such as driving trucks (shuttles) and constructing and managing buildings (station) should be handed to the private sector and related non-exploration civic entities, and our courageous explorers should move on out to the edge where they belong.

As I said at the Space Roundtable the Space Frontier Foundation. Pro-Space and F.I.N.D.S. held a few weeks ago. If NASA is Lewis and Clarke, they are still paddling in circles  just off St. Louis, and the ripple that shook their canoe when Tito showed up was the wake of a passing tour boat. In the larger cultural sense, it was NASA that was and is in the wrong place, not Mr. Tito.

I do not blame any one person for this failure, rather, I blame ignorance and a lack of understanding of the meaning of our own history when related to space.

What did anyone expect would happen after more than thirty years of being shown the wonders of space, being fed the dream of the frontier in books movies and television? The people out there, the people who have funded this fantastic adventure to date have been watching, learning, praising and waiting for their time. And now it is here.

Yet for now, the reality is that Alpha is a government laboratory, and until it is transformed into a free-port or some other quasi-commercial entity, we have to deal with its current management structure, if there is one. Even if the capitalism that seems to be about to envelope it takes root, the ISS is not designed for casual visitors, nor should it be. It is a laboratory and research station. It is closer in design to a submarine than a cruise ship, it resembles a high tech government or corporate lab more than a Hilton, and it should not be confused with a hotel. 

Other Roles for the Government

As on Earth, the US government should work to create a level playing field between competing firms, the private and government sectors and internationally. The US and other spacefaring nations should set up a few standard rules for operating commercially in space, much like those which govern the seas. A few basic standards are all that is needed, as we do not want to over regulate what is an embryonic field at best. One can guess what would have happened to the internet, television, radio and even commercial flying here on Earth, if at the very earliest stages overly zealous bureaucrats had stepped in and created a wall of red tape.

Set Standards and Codes

Some basic standards are essential, however, and are needed by those wishing to insure and finance their space endeavours. Basic licensing for commercial activities, certification of space ships and their operators and safety requirements and building codes will help to establish a clean and safe record for all involved, and help the industry avoid disasters.

Change ITAR

While the need to stop proliferation of US technology to the wrong people is a valid idea, the ITAR regime has been killing the new US space industry just as it is being born. From satellite exports that have been devastated to several innovative  and co-operative projects the space field is littered with the bodies of this witch-hunts victims, who, in the eyes of our government are guilty until proven innocent. 

Last year F.I.N.D.S. spent 300k on legal bills to export a tether to fly on the Mir, a device the military had said was harmless almost a year before it was finally approved, which, coincidentally, came one week after President Putin’s order to bring the Mir down.

The Russian space firms are the natural partners for US entrepreneurs. They are experienced and they work very, very cheaply, - and- unlike NASA, they keep their word. They can be watched and certified, as they are now, but entrepreneurs must be able to work with them in an open and unfettered manner. Otherwise, it is as if Congress had banned Gates and Jobs from dealing with Japanese chip makers at the start of the computer revolution...

Put ITAR back in to the Commerce Dept. ASAP and simplify its procedures, with special clauses and exemptions for various space projects, much like those NASA and its contractors enjoy as part of the ISS project.

Set Standards for Civilian Visitors to Government Space Facilities

We  need to learn from the Tito space flight and establish non-political and realistically achievable minimum standards for professional guests who need to visit Alpha. One friend of mine whimsically suggested we call these standards the Tito Scale, with a quarter Tito being a Vomit Commit Flight, A Half Tito being a sub-orbital jaunt to the edge of space and a Full Tito being a week on the station. This of course makes a Shuttle or Soyuz Commander a two or three Tito and the Station’s Commander around a Four Tito…

Seriously, real standards should be set, and set soon. Also, as I have repeatedly stated, it is time to end the hubris of those who see themselves as “in charge” of space. The citizen groups and interested non-government parties should be invited to comment and review on these standards before they are locked in. This time let’s not have a fight. Invite us in to talk before throwing out the NASA edict. I would rather be standing next to the new NASA administrator with the other space organizations than having to fight them for months afterwards. I have spoken to NASA folks about this at JSC and elsewhere, and they have been very positive, now it is up to headquarters.

However, once such standards are set, the agency can’t then deny potential visitors the chance to meet them by locking them out of the very facilities needed to prove themselves. NASA should also open up its neutral bouyancy tanks to private users via contracts, eventually privatizing them entirely. I know they are heavily booked with EVA training for the station, but I also know at least one tank in Alabama has been floored over. Let’s see if there is enough interest to open it up and get it profitably operating.

But keep in mind, these standards are for professional visitors to government facilities only. Our goal should not be to try and convert the facility to an orbital hotel and spa. Instead, we should focus on nurturing the development of dedicated commercial guest facilities in the Alpha neighborhood.

Cruise Ships and Submarines, Labs and Hotels

One of the biggest inhibitors to the opening the frontier for the people is the confusion about who should be doing what in space. Sometimes this is due to ignorance of the appropriate relationship between the government and private sectors in our society. Other times the sheer desperation of true believers for anything, anything at all that will even create the appearance of progress for “the cause” has led to some very bizarre situations and short term solutions which actually killed long term opportunities. We find free enterprisers like Ronald Reagan putting the government in charge of building construction in orbit, or Congress encouraging NASA to engage in for profit activities as in last year’s provisions in their funding bills. 

I fear that some are taking the wrong message from the flight of Mr. Tito to ISS, and will now focus on trying to turn the unfinished station into a “tourist” destination. This would be a mistake. Alpha is a government facility. It is a laboratory. It was not designed to house casual visitors and such activities are not in its charter or operations plans. As I mentioned earlier and Mr. Hawes is well aware of in his role at NASA, the difference, roughly stated, is that between a submarine on a shakedown cruise and a cruise ship, or laboratory and a Hilton. They are not the same, nor should they be. It is not Mr. Hawes job to turn down the bed for guests. He has a mandate to fulfill. NASA may be stuck in the wrong place doing the wrong job, but let’s not compund that by piling more inappropriate activities on them.

Alpha Town and a New LEO Community

Many years ago, while in search of clarity in the government vs. private debate in space, I introduced the idea of Alpha Town, in fact I did so in front of this Committee. The key premise being that the government’s investment in the ISS and its related infrastructure would become the economic catalyst for a new orbital community, rather than allowing it to try and mirror all the functions of our free enterprise society in one government box. (And no, I had nothing to do with the station’s being named Alpha…but thank you, NASA.) Now, more than ever, this idea applies. 

If we misunderstand what the Tito visit meant, and then take the wrong turn back into the morass of government-acting-as-business, we will actually delay the opening of LEO to large scale public space travel. We will be creating a quasi-governmental constituency on ISS and in the shuttle program that will be threatened by competing private services and facilities, and will have the power of the world’s governments and largest corporations to kill them if threatened, and they will be threatened. 

To harness the power of both the private and public sectors, we must let Alpha become a space business incubator, functioning as an early government lab and industrial park, with individual tenants operating and even competing under a clear and impartial management structure such as a Space Port Authority. But the larger cultural goal must be the development of a thriving orbital community beyond Alpha’s airlocks, not the bureaucratic survival of a monolithic and dead end one-stop space shop.

Hire Commercial Firms to Provide Bunks on ISS

This is not to say the station doesn’t have legitimate needs for accommodations and expansion. For example, Alpha does need additional beds for its crew and professional visitors. Unfortunately the currently proposed state-to-state barter deals like the one with Italy will do nothing to support the development of orbital industries, and continue the confusion of roles in space. NASA HQ says the trade cost nothing…of course these are the same folks who are bringing in an estimated 20billion dollar space station for a mere 70 billion. The real costs will show up somewhere, perhaps in the budget for a satellite, or a “free” ride to ISS on the shuttle for an Italian space worker. These behind the door deals are how the agency has operated for years. They ignore the potential of the commercial sector, short change the taxpayers and keep other nations beholding to NASA at the state level. It is time for them to end.

NASA does have a need for its people to sleep somewhere. These bunks should be provided by the private sector through competitive bidding or some lease-back provisions based on rates for power and service provision from ISS to the private module’s operators. Again, station management should stop at fulfilling its needs, and steer away from any competition with its neighbors in this area. And neighbors there shall be, if ISS managers can look beyond their own turf, and a space enterprise zone can be created around Alpha. 

To create the common currency one needs to establish a commercial relationship, the ISS should also begin to standardize its leases and meters. In other words, set clear costs and processes for those who wish to attach to the facility. If the numbers are there and are real, then a cost basis can be set for negotiating things like lease-backs for use of space on commercial modules etc. SpaceHab and others wishing to add modules to the station should not have to essentially “sneak in” on a Russian module, like extra roomies under a landlord’s nose.

(For more on station management see the attached ISS Authority publication)

Space Hotels

For guests paying millions of dollars, the ability to stay in facilities where they are the center of attention and service rather than nuisances only makes sense. It will be far more fun to float in your own padded suite doing whatever you like, rather than being over trained for months then treated like a lost child who might hit the wrong lever or button in a facility that was never meant for your presence. After all, the ergonomic design of a lab filled with dangerous buttons and delicate experiments is very different than that of hotels, which are designed to be as “idiot” proof (pardon me) “guest” proof  as possible. This “design the building for the customer” instead of “design the customer for the building” approach also means shorter training periods on the ground, reducing time and costs for customers, and thus increasing markets further. 

The activities one might pursue in private commercial hotel facilities are also incompatible with industrial and government labs. One obvious area being that of sex, as someday soon honeymooners will want to consumate their relationship while floating above the beautiful vista of Earth. (MirCorp was approached by one such prospective couple last year…and others are out there.). Sports and other activities also don’t fit into your basic industrial research park, although the Bigelow inflatable would be ideal for some sorts of tourneys and dance performances.

Beyond this, the development of co-orbital hotels and facilities increases safety dramatically. Keep in mind the safety mantra that redundancy is good in space. Obviously, co-located habitats provide that redundancy in emergency situations. For example, should Alpha be hit with a catastrophic failure, rather than a complete de-orbit, its inhabitants would simply taxi over to the buildings next door, a much safer option than plummeting back to Earth. Conversely, Alphanauts can also act as space versions of the Coast Guard, a highly trained professional corps that can step in during emergencies and save the day, an appropriate and clearly understood role for government to play.

There are at least two and perhaps three companies stepping up to the space hotel/destination market with real money and hardware. Bigelow Aerospace says it will be ready with inflatable station size modules in three years. MirCorp, down but not out after the demise of its first in history commercial facility is already developing a Mini-Mir to fly co-orbitally with Alpha. Even SpaceHab may eventually wean itself from its long symbiosis with the NASA host and spread its own wings, with some free flying variant on its Enterprise module. And down the road, someday someway, someone will eventually make good on President Reagan’s unfulfilled order to let a company try and develop the giant and wasted external tanks into something useful.

Public and Private Space Transportation

In the area of transportation to and from orbit, there are several recommendations I would make: 

Let the Russians sell their seats to whom they please for now. They need the funds and since Congress can’t pay them anything, let them use the free market to make up the shortfall. Behind the scenes, perhaps they can be talked out of sending anyone else “controversial.” (Actually, advocates for opening space win either way, for if NASA handles the next visitor as badly as the last, they will actually help our case even more.) As they are now on the free-enterprise bandwagon, NASA can expect to be billed for each person bumped, and rightly so.

Re-structure the Space Launch Inititiave Program SLI(P). NASA is not only slipping in the camel’s nose to build its new Shuttle II, it is parading the beast up and down in front of Congress as if confident no one will notice until it has moved in entirely. One simply needs to read the quotes from the players such as these from Space News: “

I must ask this committee, what are you going to do about this? SLI is upside down. Rather than tossing crumbs to the new firms who are focused on building fleets of space transportation vehicles, rather than buying lobbyists golf clubs and spending most of the money on yet another incestuous and market killing government vehicle, re-structure all of SLI to resemble the contract given to Kistler Aerospace, wherein they received a little money up front to develop their system and will be paid for actually delivering payloads.

If Congress wants to see low cost access to space, lock the traditional aerospace lobbyists out of the room for a day and draw up a funding bill that offers the same several billions as is being spent on SLI(P) as guaranteed launch contracts for various sets of payloads including humans, with incentive payments and pay on delivery clauses in the contracts. I guarantee you that in the same five year period SLI(P) is supposed to run and not produce a viable sole source Shuttle II, this will result in several firms serving several different markets, and a dramatic growth in the number of flights to and from space, and the tumbling of costs to get there and back. And by the way, don’t worry about Lockheed and Boeing, I promise you they will be there too, with beautiful new spaceships competing not just for NASA rides, but for all the new passengers and payloads that will materialize when a real market is operating in space transportation (and they will make a LOT more money in the long run than servicing just NASA).

Do not let NASA give away seats on the shuttle to guests. The idea of empowering a NASA Inc. to compete with any current or emerging commercial human carriers should scare anyone who has studied the history of public and private transportation, and our space program to date. We must avoid throwing government at the challenge of providing space access to the people by giving away seats on government shuttles and flights to potential customers for the private sector. Each person given a free ride on a shuttle is one less who will pay for a ride or find sponsors to do so, and that is one less customer for someone’s business plan. Blurring the line may sound good at first, but it will undercut the very competitive environment we need to lower costs, and thus actually keep people out of space in the long run. If seats are to be sold while the new systems come on line, then let the money go to a third party, such as a National Space Investment Fund, or some other entity that will not create and addiction for NASA that will be hard to break later.

End the use of the term “NASA Unique” when discussing human transportation to orbit. This idea may have made sense when NASA was the only federal agency flying humans to US facilities, but as Tito’s flight shows, it is no longer a “NASA unique” requirement or capability, if it truly ever was. It is now meaningless and is used to justify such backwards moving projects as the Shuttle II program.

Privatize Columbia. One of the best ways to retain clarity in this area, yet give a strong boost to commercial access to space for payloads and people is to privatize the Columbia space shuttle. Some in NASA have talked of mothballing the venerable old ship, which means she is headed for the front yard of some space center, an unworthy end for her years of service. NASA should begin now to examine the right structure for a fair and clean sale or long term lease of the shuttle to a private operating firm. In order to protect the healthy satellite launch market, it should be banned from carrying such payloads, but allowed to fly anything else, including people, as these markets need the help such a recycling of government assets could provide. This move would send a very clear signal a new era had arrived, add new cash flow and continuity to the processing teams at the Cape and begin to create a competitive market for human space flights.

Regarding the rest of the shuttle fleet, let NASA use them to finish the station, and if they wish and can win the fight here in Washington, let them upgrade the fleet as much as they want. I won’t care anymore, as Columbia, the SLI enabled new firms and the Russians will be in there slugging it out on the free market for customers who want to experience life above the Earth. At that point what to do about the government fleet is a separate government expenditures question, more germane to discussions of Mars Missions and other Far Frontier exploration activities. I believe that if this plan were implemented (fixing the failed SLI(P) to incentivize the private fleet builders rather than building Shuttle II, acknowledging and supporting the right of Russia to sell ticket s to whomever they please, privatizing Columbia, and letting NASA do what it wants with the remaining shuttles) would create a whole new and vibrant market to serve civilian and military needs  at a fraction of today’s costs.

Citizens in Space

While these new vehicles are being developed, the public and investment community should keep being fed stories of people of all sorts flying into space. To that end I support a limited re-introduction of the Citizens in Space Program. However, we must remember that program was intended to develop support for NASA’s failed policies of the past – not to sell the basic idea of space. Send NASA to the Far Frontier and Mars, get them out of operations and back to the exciting work of their early days and the support will grow, especially if at the same time real opportunities begin to open up for them to go themselves. (Car dealers use this marketing method all the time, come see the incredible new SuperCar- read Mars – and on the way out buy the Saturn – read – my own flight into space or investment in a space business.)

The people have ALWAYS loved the idea of going into space themselves, it was the program that didn’t excite them. Don’t get confused on this point or you will reach the wrong conclusion. Jim Cameron making a film is one thing as he will be producing a product in space, Miles O’Brien reporting live from orbit is a good thing too, but even then, to some degree, both of these examples could be funded with private sponsorships or underwriters. Although I do not ignore the pure propaganda aspects of such flights, and the long history of such government largesse to further its own goals and image, the day when we needed to fly free cultural translators for space ended with Tito’s arrival at ISS. Read the non-space media, talk to your dad and mom. The people get it, they just can’t afford it. They don’t need to be sold on the idea now and they shouldn’t be taxed to fund anyone’s flights ever again. 

Space Lotteries

If someone wants to fly people into space by lottery, good, the proceeds can be used to buy a ticket (I produced the world’s first commercial for a space lottery in 1991 and more recently F.I.N.D.S. gave Buzz Aldrin his first funds for Sharespace). In our culture we also have another way for people to jump the line to wealth, material gain and travel to exotic places (no, I don’t mean a political career)….” For fifty years game shows have been used to lift common people up to uncommon wealth and prizes… “Vanna, show the folks their prize…An orbital Cruise on the SS Aldrin!”As we speak, the Europeans, the folks from a US network, and at least one space firm are working on just such an idea. And guess what, no taxpayer dollars needed, no subsidized public relations stunts, just plain business that incidentally does more than all the subsidized Senatorial flights to orbit could ever do.

Privately owned transportation and co-orbital hotels and facilities solve many problems and create huge opportunities for all involved.  They decrease potential non-professional visitor driven traffic loads to the delicate ISS, with its bureaucratic nightmares, while increasing the transportation infrastructure through private investment in non-government vehicles. Just as on Earth, if the bus or delivery van can make more stops in one area the cost to go there drops. Thus, creating a larger overall payload market to a single neighborhood – the Alpha orbital community – or Alpha Town…will reduce costs and increase flight opportunities for all.

Imagine if we are successful in this endeavor what it might be like just ten years from now, as only a couple of hundred miles above we sit, you float in a space hotel suite with the love of your life….sipping on a bulb of champagne after a day diving into what on Earth would feel like a giant bubble of water floating above you in a giant inflatable sphere…and a night watching Barishnikov’s Zero “G” ballet, you look out the window and watch shuttles of various kinds docking and departing from Alpha, as AlphaNauts begin to assemble the giant Mars One Exploration ship, all floating above the beautiful planet below….

 As Mr. Tito found when he finally strapped into the Soyuz and breathed a sigh of relief after negotiating miles of red tape, our greatest challenge when trying to open the Space Frontier is not the physical barriers nature has placed in front of us, it is the mental and cultural barriers we erect for ourselves and each other.

Given a little clarity of purpose, comprehension of how our free enterprise democracy works, understanding of whose job it is to do what in space, and just a touch of common sense, we can achieve the vision of a human society breaking out of its Earthly cradle in a self-sustaining and ever growing flow upwards and outwards.

It is time to “Let the People Go!”

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