Personally, I think that if the russians are so intent on holding up their end of the bargin and sending Mr. Tito into space they should stick him in a Soyuz and put him in orbit a few days. I don’t think that the other countries or NASA should let him set foot into the space station if they can help it. Even if he is just as trained as a government astronaut, I don’t like the precedent it sets.
I think the US and others are bowing to pressure from Russia that if they don’t allow it to happen that they will just back out of the Space Station program altogether and go on their own, and maybe use ISS earmarked funds to go towards a MIR2. Even if they tried to do that I am unsure if there would be enough funds to do that anyway… but then again what the hell do I know.
I don’t understand all the details of sending a ‘civillian’ into space, but hasn’t it been done before? By the U.S.? What is the problem with it this time? The fact that the guy boaght his way in? I think that’s a good thing - he can afford it and the money is a nice boost to the space program.
Wasn’t there a company advertising recently that you can buy a Space Flight for a much lower amount than what Tito paid?
I don’t understand all the details of sending a ‘civillian’ into space, but hasn’t it been done before? By the U.S.? What is the problem with it this time? The fact that the guy boaght his way in? I think that’s a good thing - he can afford it and the money is a nice boost to the space program.
Wasn’t there a company advertising recently that you can buy a Space Flight for a much lower amount than what Tito paid?
If he’s qualified for it (or at least isn’t a risk to the others), then why not? Personally, I think it’s a very clever fund-raiser, and NASA would be wise to take notes (ditto the USAF on the “Fly A Mig” programs)
Space ain’t ever gonna get commercial if we keep up this ridiculous “hands off, government-sanctioned astronauts only” charade. I’ve been waiting for as long as I can remember for space tourism to become a reality, and by golly, it’s finally happening.
Only attempt I can think of was Christa McAuliffe, on the Challenger. In that case, she was trained like any other astronaut. Tito may have been trained by the Russians, but NASA wants a chance to train him too. For that matter, Tito hasn’t even MET the crew currently there on the station. I think those are some of the concerns.
CNN is reporting NASA appears to be preparing for this if they have to bend and agree to let him ride.
Absolutely not. I have a problem with him using government funded facilities as a hotel during his ride. I am all for commercialization of space, just not this way. Get some company to buy some surplus launch vehiles or something and build a hotel up there. Hell, I would love to go!
I couldn’t give a flying fuck who makes money off of it. (BTW - I am Canadian, not American) I just don’t like the way Russia is starting to use threats and leverage. I could very easily see them using this as an excuse to pull out of the ISS if they didn’t let him fly.
Christa MuAuliffe was not the first civilian on board a Space Shuttle launch. She was, however, the first civilian on a Space Shuttle launch who was not affiliated with the aerospace industry.
Has Tito been psychologically certified for the trip? I know, the Russians have done the physical exams, and have also trained him technically to act in a communications capacity or something. However, NASA’s headshrinkers have legitimate concerns about people going batty after being locked inside a space the size of a subway car for a couple of weeks, with no possibility of escape. If I were NASA, I wouldn’t worry about the guy taking up space and getting in the way; I’d be worried about him going claustrophobic after a few days, losing his crackers and whackin’ on stuff with a wrench. It’s not like the ISS has a few MP’s around the place and a brig for this contingency, don’tcha know. Russia’s financial situation leads me to suspect they might have deprioritized this concern in favor of a few million rubles.
Civilians, that is non-military, are sent into space all the time, after a whole bunch of training, by which time they are called astronauts. The important issues are that Tito’s paying them and the amount of training time.
They can advertise all they want, but nobody’s sent people into space other than the Russians and U.S. What you’re buying is a seat on one of their flights, once it happens, someday, maybe. I’ll believe it when pigs fly.
You guys should check out this article.
It’s an interview with Marc Garneau, a Canadian astronaut who’s probably the guy who came closest to Tito’s level of training. It should also be mentioned that it’s all the partners (Canada, Japan, the European Space Agency, I think that’s all of 'em) not just the US vs. Russia.
The big concern I have is that Tito has not been trained on the non-Russian parts of the Space Station. In theory, as long as nothing goes wrong he’ll stay in the Russian parts. What if something does go wrong? Not necessarily big stuff wrong, just little stuff wrong, and he goes into the Non-Russian parts. What if the the toilet in the Russian part breaks and he has to use the one in the Non-Russian part, hits the wrong button and screws up the water supply? That’s just the first thing I could think of, probably couldn’t happen anyway, but you get the idea.
I do believe that we should have space tourism, but right now it takes a whole lot of training, much of which Tito hasn’t had. As an aerospace engineer, I think we’re just not ready yet. Going into space is just too complicated for now, and there aren’t too many uncomplicated, safe parts to let tourists into. If he had all the training it’d be different, but he hasn’t, and if he gets killed it’ll set space tourism back 10 years.
Go ahead, design your own spacecraft, launch it and charge all the money you want. No one will stop you - well, the FAA or NTSB will probably have a few questions about safety, but you can get around it with a platform in international waters. There are a few companies that are working on it, but they’re nowhere near actually being able to do it. See the above “pigs fly” comment. The reason is simple: it’s hard and complicated and still pretty damned dangerous. Until then, NASA has every right to say who can go on their launch vehicles, just like the Armed Forces can decide who goes on their ships and planes.
Well, he’s only going on a 10-day cargo mission, so he’s really not going have to be that concerned with the long-term effects. As far as the issue goes, I’m all for the commercialization of space, but I think it’s still a abit early. Why don’t we wait until the astronauts get the ISS built before we send tourists up there.
Welcome to international cooperation. This should not be too surprising.
The Russians feel that he is sufficiently trained, so they should be able to send him up if they want. NASA is correct in voicing their concerns but they should not expect 100% control over the project.
The commercialization of space seems inevitable. It may even be beneficial to space exploration as long as we avoid the cheeze-factor of orbiting billboards and the danger-factor of changing the safe orbits of near-earth asteroids into potentially impacting orbits. The transition to more commercialization will of course be a rocky road.
Overall, considering his training, it seems safe enough in this one case. Maybe NASA should embrace this opportunity to rekindle some American enthusiasm (which translates to more funding) for the space program.
Speaking of orbital billboards, wasn’t Coca-Cola planning to turn the face of the moon into a gigantic “Coke” logo at one point? Or was that just a rumor?
Well, OK, I guess you could say that Senator Garn and Rep. Nelson were affiliated with the industry. But few were fooled into thinking that they were on anything more than joyrides. Tito, btw, is a former space-program engineer who made it big in financial services - he’s better prepared than McAuliffe was, and has paid more both professionally and financially.
That said, the only problem I have with Tito’s trip is the timing. The future of space is with commercial use, which does include tourism, and this is an example. But he should have waited until enough more of the station was built that he wouldn’t get in the way of the missions.
The more fundamental problem is that Russia can’t afford to hold up their end, so badly that Tito’s $20M makes a real difference. NASA has been carrying Russia for a while now, and the situation isn’t getting better over there.
