On April 28, 2001, after shelling out $20 million, Dennis Tito got the chance to become a footnote in history. Tito is a very rich man who made his money as an investor in the markets. His career began, however, as a NASA engineer and that explains something about how Tito used his $20 million. According to published reports Tito's lifelong dream has always been spaceflight. But as everyone knows, there is only one way to get into orbit and that is to be chosen for it. You have to get into the astronaut core, an elite group of men and women picked for their keen intelligence, physical and emotional strength and, finally, their dedication to the highest ideals of human exploration. These kinds of people are singled out for their merits and it is because of merit that they get the privilege of the ultimate adventure. Well, that was how things stood until Tito started waving his $20 million bucks around. So on a fateful April day, Tito climbed into a Russian space capsule and blasted into orbit as history's first space tourist.

Tito's ride into space and subsequent stay at the International Space Station raises a lot of issues. It is important to note that Tito, a U.S. citizen, made his infamous ride on a Russian rocket, not an American one. The color of money can be very persuasive and the cash-starved Russian space program was happy to accept a paying customer who could handle the ticket's cost. NASA was never very happy about this arrangement.

What does Tito's journey tell us about humanities future in space? Is it a craven example of, "anything and everything open to the highest bidder?" Are we to expect that space, like so much else in life, will belong only to the rich while the rest of us have to watch from below on an ever-more-crowded, ever-more-polluted Earth? Might there be a different way to see this story? Perhaps Tito's trip is a beginning for all of us by ending government's monopoly of the high frontier. Tito may not be a pampered billionaire but, instead, he might be a pioneer of an entirely different stripe.

To answer this question you have to look at what happened to the space program after the Moon landing some 30 years ago. The most important thing to notice is that we never went back. After reaching a goal that humanity dreamed about for thousands of years, we somehow simply turned our backs on further human exploration of space. Some people said it was too expensive. Others claimed we didn't have a strong enough reason for making the effort. Since the moon landing, NASA has had to content itself with jaunts into near-Earth orbit in the Space Shuttle. In many ways, time has stood still. During all those years, for example, no fundamental advances have been made in the rocket booster technology.

On the sidelines, however, a small but growing community of entrepreneurs has been trying to develop a commercial space presence. "Look at the possible business in launching communication satellites," they say. "We could make a lot of money!" Eventually they think they can build space hotels because, after all, who wouldn't want a honeymoon in orbit. So far none of these operations has managed to get a single spacecraft, let alone a living human being, into orbit. That has not done much to deter their enthusiasm, however, as they claim it is just a matter of time, will and money.

And so we come back to Tito buying his way onto a Russian rocket. While the story may seem bizarre at first it could also be a shot in the arm to all the dreamers hoping to build their own Space Express lines. After Tito, it is clear that people will spend their fortunes to get into space. It should come as no surprise that it all starts with the rich. In the beginning, air travel and even automobile ownership was pretty pricey. Open up the market and the price should, eventually, come down. Perhaps one could argue that whatever gets us out there is, eventually, good for everyone. So maybe we should say, "Bless you Mr. Tito. May there be many more like you out there waiting - with their hands ready at the wallet."

Questions

1. I have presented Dennis Tito's trip in an overall favorable light. What arguments can you make against his trip?
2. Do you believe there will eventually be space hotels? What will make it possible? What makes it improbable?
3. Are commercial space ventures a good idea? Should NASA help these operations out or see them as competitors?

Check Out These Websites

Dennis Tito
www.space.com/dennistito/

Space Tourism
www.canadianarrow.com/spacetourism.htm

Space Elevators, Space Hotels, and Space Tourism
www.members.aol.com/Nathan2go/SPELEV.HTM

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