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washingtonpost OP t1_j43egf2 wrote

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!

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