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Richard Branson was hungover on the day the Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the moon in 1969. He had turned 19 two days earlier and had celebrated accordingly. But he was "gripped" as he watched Neil Armstrong on his family's little black-and-white television, he later wrote in a memoir. He knew then—he was "instantly convinced"—that someday he would go to space himself.
The Apollo 11 landing was not only a memorable event, but also one that motivated many to become space scientists, sponsored astronauts and now, with the advent of space tourism, private astronauts. It pays off in many ways even after decades.
Now, customers with deep-enough pockets can make the journey with relative ease, unencumbered by the baggage of professional spacefarers, like flight experience and science backgrounds. Branson's flight did carry a scientific experiment, which one of the passengers handled, but Branson's official role in the flight, according to Virgin, was to "evaluate the private astronaut experience," which is essentially a fancy way to say "joyride."
These "joyrides" are going to be the province of only the super rich for the near future - at least another decade or two - before the price comes down for the middle class people to afford it. Perhaps when we have the technology to built spacecrafts using materials like graphene which is a super strong and super light material, then the cost of space travel may come down substantially enough for that to become a reality.
Wherever the line, Branson has broken some kind of barrier. Spaceflight was always an adrenaline rush, even for the Apollo astronauts, but that was a feature, not the sole purpose. And Branson's ride was quite the gamble: The journey was considered a test flight, and Virgin Galactic plans to do at least two more before it puts paying customers on board next year.
If you are one those super rich who has been wanting to take a joyride, your turn is very near indeed, as you don't have to wait longer than next year. Phew.
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