[FPSPACE] Tito, Goldin & the start of space tourism

[wayneday]

>===== Original Message From Keith Gottschalk <kgottschalk@uwc.ac.za> =====

>      Dennis Tito, more than any other billionaire or $100s-millionaire has a
>hi-tech background. Even compared to Bill Gates,  Tito's life interest in, &
>career start through specifically Astronomy & Astronautics (JPL),  make him 
THE >model passenger to be trusted.

I'd argue that in general, it makes him the model *billionaire* passenger to 
be trusted...


> Even with admission to an orbital construction site.  His technical
>understanding, his behavior towards hard-hat rules, his engineering knowledge
>that the penalty for carelessness, or breaking rules, could be death for you
>& the whole team, is keener than anyone else in his income bracket, - or the 
2 >Congressmen & Saudi prince who flew in the shuttle.

Then again, Tito could be an arrogant jerk who thinks that his $20 million 
bought him special privileges.  The fact that he's an engineer does not 
*guarantee* that he will be a model passenger.  And the fact that he's paying 
for his ride and has become accustomed to a certain standard of living may 
make him snooty--he might complain about the lack of Perrier water, for 
instance, or refuse to get out of the way of people unloading supplies.

I'm not saying that Tito is any of these things.  In fact, from his interview 
he comes off as a pretty decent guy and I admire him.  I'm just pointing out 
that his technical background does not guarantee that he will be a good 
passenger.  (After all, wasn't Jake Garn a fighter pilot?  And all he did was 
get in the way and throw up a lot.)


>Second, anyone from NASA seeking private sector allies should not need
>a Phd in Public Relations, marketing, or advertising, to make hay while the
>Tito sunshine lasts. Welcome billionaire tourists with enthusiasm, & splash
>their astro-adventures, with the maximum IMAX & webcams publicity the client
>will permit.  Trade off any inconvenience as a once in a lifetime opportunity
>for feel-good PR & public excitement.  What's good for the space venture
>capitalist community means more empathy for NASA, ESA, RAKA & all university
>space researchers!

Here is where I completely disagree.  I think that this could be bad 
publicity, because it seems like a throwback to the days where NASA was 
essentially for sale to anyone with enough clout.  Any NASA PR flack with 
common sense would clearly wonder if rich billionaires are good poster boys 
for space.  (We will see how this is covered if Tito ever flies.  The 
headlines might read:  "Fatcat businessman buys his way into space program.")  
And it might not play well with the US Congress, which would ask how come 
we're running junkets for billionaires (admittedly not a fair question, but 
when has politics ever been about fairness?).

There has already been some debate about this among the proponents of space 
tourism.  Some of them enthusiastically embraced Tito's flight just as they 
enthusiastically embrace anything that pokes a finger in NASA's eye.  But 
others felt that this undercut their position in some ways, because it implied 
that space tourism can only be for people with a LOT of money.  (There are a 
lot of tangents to this argument, which I won't go into here.)



DDAY