Ok_Habit_202 t1_j435h4n wrote on January 12, 2023 at 9:15 PM

Thanks for the AMA

What do you two see as the future of space travel, space tech and innovation and how do you think it will evolve? Do you guys have some tech you all are excited for and what predictions do you all have about space tourism

washingtonpost OP t1_j43egf2 wrote on January 12, 2023 at 10:08 PM

From Garrett Reisman:

I think that Chris did a great job outlining the exciting things coming next in human spaceflight and I agree with him that the first orbital flight of Starship will be a huge milestone and a real game changer - if it works!

As far as space tourism goes - it's definitely here and here to stay. I know it can be frustrating for space fans out there in that the price is still so very high and unfortunately space tourists will continue to be billionaires or representatives of nations (or contest winners) for the near future. But remember, this was the case for commercial airlines at first too. In the early days of passenger air travel it was only millionaires and movie stars who got to fly. Even as recently as the 1960's air travel was for the elite 'jet set' and priced out of the reach of ordinary citizens. But today we have Spirit Airlines, Jet Blue and Southwest (well, most of the time) and air travel is affordable for most Americans.

This will be the case in space eventually too. The sooner the better!

washingtonpost OP t1_j438fv3 wrote on January 12, 2023 at 9:32 PM

From Christian Davenport:

I touched on the future of space in a previous post, but for space tourism, there's been ups and downs. Virgin Galactic flew its flight with Richard Branson ... and hasn't flown since. It's been refurbishing its vehicles and says it'll start commercial operations in the second quarter of this year. We'll see. Blue Origin had flown a series of flights and then had an engine failure and has been grounded while they investigate. They hope to resume flying this year. SpaceX has the Polaris program, funded by Jared Isaacman, which is really interesting. After flying the first all private-citizen crew for the Inspiration4 flight, he's set to do another mission this year that would feature a space walk. That's a big deal and requires a lot of training and is in preparation for the next flight, which could boost the orbit of the Hubble telescope, allowing it to remain in operation for years to come. I got a first-hand look at how the crew is preparing by flying in a fighter jet with Jared. It was pretty awesome. (And, no, I didn't throw up.) You can read about that here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/02/astronaut-training-fighter-jets/

In addition to the Polaris program, SpaceX is flying private astronauts for a company called Axiom Space, and expects another of those flights, to the ISS, this year as well.