+1
I think they did a good job, despite all the negative press.
Personally, as an European, I kind of miss that slightly naive (North-) American optimism of the late 20th century.
Today, everything is so grim and sarcastic. The press comes up with the lame old "what is that good for??" thing.
It's depressing how simple-minded they are. They are so limited in their thinking that it hurts.
Press loves to talk about scandals and catastrophes, but seldomly about the good things. 🙁
Boy, what I'm tired of this negative attitude.
Space exploration is about seeing things from a different perspective.
Problems in space lead to solutions that can have applications on earth, too.
Thing is, they are discovered by accident, also. In science, solutions not seldomly appear before a matching "problem" (application) is found.
Likewise, a space flight for VIPs may have a positive effects on these people.
Apollo astronauts stated, that their space flights made them spiritual and made them feel humble.
If just a handful of world leaders would go into near space and feel the same way,
the world could become a better place.
Likewise, any solutions found to give life to a dead asteroid, moon or mars can help healing earth.
But no, press always comes up with how much things cost or how much pollution rocket launches cause.
This is paradox, I think, because money spent on warfare is many times higher and
because these new rockets aim to be very efficient and recycable.
These new rockets can be re-used and don't remain in orbit (like rocket stages often do).
Also, over the years, air planes and cars do cause much more pollution that rockets.
All in all, this reminds me of Einstein, who stated that we can't fix things with the same mindset that caused the problems.
He also asked us to question ourselves if we think the universe is a friendly place or a hostile place.
If we think about this, the current situation in the world is a bit depressing. People claim to be open-minded and politically correct (ugh), but apparently always assume the worst of other people and can't laugh about themselves.
The whole "sarcasm is soo cool" fad is amplifying this, I think.
I mean, I love Garfield's type of sarcasm/zynism.
But that is because it's in combination with humor.
Both together work like yin and yang and keep things in balance.
Of course, these last two "space" flights were mainly a publicity thing.
A proof-of-concept so to say. To attract investors.
But they also were intended to fulfill a long awaited wish of the companies' founders.
But this wish makes the motifs very likeable, very human.
It's not for nationalism, not for prestige. Not even for commercialism/capitalism.
If we watch these videos, we see people with real emotions. Simple as that. 🙂
These millionaires fulfilled their childhood dreams, as childish as this may seem. Maybe that's why they even started their business originally, not sure.
They really lived for this very day, it seems. This may inspire several generations for space and this old, blue marble.
And that this 82 years young lady was invited to participate the flight,
was also a nice move. 👍
I think it had to do with justice, rather than publicity.
She was an aviation ace and participated a real astronaut training in the 60s,
until the NASA project in question was halted to prevent women from passing the final tests (they were so close).
This was due to political reasons, apparently, because a few old men didn't like the idea of equality.
So if people on a fishing cutter can call themselves "sailors", "captains" and "skippers", why can't these people be "astronauts", too? 😉
That being said, that blue origin rocket is quite interesting, IMHO.
Reminds me of old science fiction novels, in which rockets had the ability to land on foreign moons and planets! 🙂
I think it's really fascinating that real rockets nowadays finally have this ability!
This maked old novels much more believable and enjoyable in retrospect.
"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel
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