NewSpace & The Billionaire Space Race - Heralding A Modern Age Of Commercial Space Travel

It is astonishing how quickly the billionaire space race has ramped up in recent days. Within a few short months, Private space travel has become an achievable civilian dream, albeit for those with deep pockets. There has never been such enthusiasm around commercial space travel. As what ushered in the beginning of private space travel, Richard Branson, the Founder of Virgin Group, marked his place in history by blasting off as the first billionaire into space on July 11, 2021. 

Hot on his heels just a short nine days later, the founder of Amazon and the world's richest person, Jeff Bezos, lifted off in his rocket from Blue Origin called New Shepard - a reusable suborbital rocket. 

Other than Elon Musk's SpaceX, which has already revolutionized and reduced commercial space transportation costs for cargo, satellites and astronauts, NewSpace tourism companies have not received as much attention. However, thanks to billionaires such as Branson and Bezos, space tourism is an undeniable reality and no longer a pie in the sky.

Space Privatization And The Beginning

The privatization of space has begun as more companies continue to travel into lower earth orbit. NASA, a name synonymous with space exploration, made it to the Moon on July 20, 1969, a feat representing a giant leap for humankind. NASA went on to deliver numerous space shuttle missions and missions to the International Space Station. SpaceX, founded by CEO and Chief Engineer Elon Musk, is currently the only commercial spaceflight company competent in carrying astronauts to low earth orbit. However, the company may face fierce competition from other billionaires, closing the gap of commercial space travel with one another. However, Elon Musk is working towards a bold objective of enabling the colonization of Mars and remains the only billionaire on this planet with a realistic chance of achieving this goal within this decade.

The Russian Space Traveller

How did we get this far? Commercialization of space is not new, with origins dating back to 2000 when the Russian spacecraft Soyuz carried the first human-crewed mission to the international space station as part of the Expedition 1 mission. Expedition 1 marked the first long-duration stay on the ISS and was the beginning of an uninterrupted human presence in space.

Shaping Up Space Travel

Just a few decades earlier, the space race was limited to the United States and the Soviet Union governments. We did not see any other private organizations other than major military defence contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman. NASA, established in 1958, was an independent agency of the United States government to spearhead the civilian space program, aeronautics and space research. NASA's budget peaked during the Apollo program in the 1960s. After the United States won the race to the Moon, space exploration lost political support. NASA's budget was significantly cut, impeding its ability to conduct meaningful research and develop improved space launch systems. However, NASA continued to heavily regulate space flight, positioning its space shuttle as the sole legal space launch option.

The Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984 encouraged commercial space ventures; however, NASA strongly opposed this act. Following the Space Shuttle Challenger mid-launch disaster in 1986, which led to the suspension of all government operated shuttle flights, a commercial launch industry was formed.

Fortunately, NASA is now playing a much more active role in helping NewSpace companies by awarding lucrative contracts for satellite and manned mission launches to the ISS. 

Through increased privatization, we are also starting to see innovation in space launch technologies leading to further cost efficiencies. Soon space travel will become highly economical and sustainable beyond any government dependency. Soon privatization of space will extend beyond space launch platforms to include space dwelling modules suitable for low earth orbit space hotels such as the inflatable concepts developed and tested by Bigalow Aerospace between 2006-2007 on the International Space Station. Robert Bigalow, founder of Bigalow Aerospace is an American businessman and owner of the Budget Suites of America chain. He has used his considerable wealth to further research into UFO phenomena and modular space habitats.

A Race Of The Billionaire Space Excursion

Private and commercial space travel will continue to develop as ongoing innovations by significant players like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, Bigalow Aerospace, and numerous others continue to fuel the NewSpace race. It won't be long before corporations and private enterprises can invest in space-based research and development, further representing a paradigm shift for scientific research in the zero-gravity environment of space. This ability for private enterprises to research in space could impact our understanding of the major sciences such as physics, chemistry, and biology, leading to further advancements in human knowledge.