Space: The Luxury Frontier

Today’s the day. Aisha Bowe, a former NASA rocket scientist, and research scientist Amanda Nguyen, the only two people on Jeff Bezo’s New Shepard rocket who have any business being in near space, will have to put up with TV morning host Gail King, pop-star Katy Perry, movie producer Kerianne Flynn, and Jeff Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez on the short flight that is scheduled to blast off at 9:30 AM EDT this morning, and have them all back home in time for lunch. Sounds like a fun little trip, doesn’t it?

Katy Perry told reporters last week, “I am talking to myself every day and going, ‘You’re brave, you’re bold, you are doing this for the next generation to inspire so many different people but especially young girls to go, “I’ll go to space in the future.” No limitations,’”

“I can’t wait to see what all the chatter is about — or how I feel or how I will be changed,” King told “CBS Mornings” co-anchors Nate Burleson and Tony Dokoupil.

The rest of the world is responding with, “Yeah, so what?”

Blue Origin’s flights have never been about space or about science. They’re about creating a spectacle by putting people with marginally popular names at risk simply so they can experience about four minutes of weightlessness. That’s it. Four minutes, and it’s back to earth.

It’s kind of like going to the Grand Canyon for the first time, glancing over the edge, then saying, “Okay, it’s a hole in the ground. Let’s go.”

Blue Origin has tried to make a big deal of this being the first all-female crew to go to space. The historical value of that fact is lost, however, because no one is going up to actually achieve anything. Four minutes isn’t enough time to perform any type of serious experiments or studies in weightlessness. We imagine that Gayle King, who’s 70 years old, might be the oldest woman to ever be on a rocket, but the flight is so short, any study of the effects of space on someone her age would be near useless. This is just another show, a grab for attention, coming at a time when the rest of the world just doesn’t give a shit about a billionaire’s excessive display of wealth.

To some extent, it doesn’t matter who is put on board this rocket. Normal astronauts undergo years of training before they’re actually sent into space. Medical teams go to great lengths to make sure they can survive the rigors of being in space. These astronauts have had a couple of classes, a g-force test, and a uniform fitting. That’s it.

Why so little prep for the passengers? Because the New Shepard rocket doesn’t have a driver. There’s no pilot. It is an autonomous trip up and back down, rather like riding a giant elevator to the sky. Blue Origin has done this ten times before and hasn’t lost anyone yet (that we know of). Bezos himself was on the first manned flight. So, why worry?

But we know from previous incidents, going back to Apollo 1, that even the best prepared staff and the most carefully built rockets don’t always work the way they’re supposed to. If this crew had been aboard Apollo 13 when it blew a hole in its side, it’s doubtful that they would have arrived back home safely. And we don’t even want to think about the Challenger disaster.

Then, there’s the cost. Blue Origin isn’t saying who is paying for this flight. There have been times when the passengers have ponied up the money themselves, but there are other flights where Bezos paid out of his own pocket. The company isn’t saying who paid for this trip, but any way you turn it, this is an extremely expensive adventure for only four minutes of weightlessness.

Perhaps that’s why none of this morning’s papers have the launch on their front page. The New Sheppard flight is little more than a publicity stunt. King’s morning show will get a ratings bump when she returns. Perry will use this to pump her upcoming tour. Perhaps Sanchez will write a children’s book about the trip. The rest? It isn’t much more than a ten-minute run to the space corner and back.

Space travel and exploration is important and there’s little question about that. If there’s anything worth studying about this trip it’s the fact that the New Shepard rocket is by far the smallest vehicle to reach near space. Standing upright, the New Shepard rocket is only 59 feet tall. A Boeing 737 Max-8 is larger. Saving space on flights, making them lighter and still sturdy enough to handle a full space flight, could potentially make a considerable difference in the future of space travel.

But this trip? Bezos should have saved his money.