Half a century later, is history repeating? What does it mean?
Date : 18/05/2024
9:00 AM,
29th July 1955
James C. Hagerty descended the fleet of stairs. Dressed, as usual, appropriately for the occasion, he looked at what he was about to say for one last time. Written in bold on top of the ivory sheet he carried: "Statement by James C. Hagerty, Press Secretary to the President". Delivering the message was crucial. He walked briskly to the podium kept in front of the White House lawn awaiting his presence, glanced at his watch, and began: "On behalf of President Eisenhower, I am now announcing that the President has approved plans by this country for going ahead with the launching of small unmanned earth-circling satellites as part of the United States participation in the International Geophysical Year - between July 1957 and December 1958....".
***
On the 2nd of August, 1955, responding to the announcement made by the United States on 29th July, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) announced its steel resolve to beat the U.S. at their satellite launch, marking the beginning of a rat race for dominance veiled by the thirst for science. The space race had begun.
The space race was characterized by the cold, cut-throat competition of the U.S. and U.S.S.R., with each of them spending gargantuan amounts to beat the other. It was an era in the history of human civilization that brought to light the extent to which people running countries could go just to establish their superiority and dominance.
Half a century later, with the rest of the world grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, is history repeating? And if it is, what does it mean?
On the 11th of July, 2021, Virgin Galactic, a space exploration company owned by the British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, made the first flight to the edge of space. The six-member crew: Beth Moses, Chief Astronaut Instructor at Virgin Galactic; Colin Benett, Lead Operations Engineer at Virgin Galactic; Sirisha Bandla, Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations at Virgin Galactic; pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci; Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, launched to space from Spaceport America. Mothership VMS Eve, a carrier plane named by none other than Stephen Hawking, ferried them to the altitude of 46,500 ft. before releasing VSS Unity, which eventually carried them to the edge of space - 260,940 ft., at a speed of Mach 3. The entire flight lasted for about an hour, with the high-altitude airplane journey taking up more than 70 percent of the time.
The launch to space by Virgin Galactic was in itself a matter of many firsts since NASA's man on the moon in 1969. It was a show only eclipsed by the pomp and celebration that followed. But apart from being a significant milestone in space history, it was also the beginning of the much-touted 21st-century space race.
Following the launch of Virgin Galactic to the edge of space, Blue Origin - a space exploration company owned by the founder and former CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos - launched to space on the 24th of July, 2021. New Shepard, the rocket in which the four-member crew: Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Oliver Daeman, and Wally Funk, launched from Van Horn, a remote town near the US-Mexico border, at a speed of Mach 3. It reached apogee at T+4 minutes and landed back in a total time of 11 minutes.
Both Bezos, launching in a rocket, and Branson, gliding in an airplane made history by being the first "people" (and not astronauts) to go to the edge of space and land back safely. But why would two billionaires, who are already, well, billionaires running billion-dollar companies, invest in space?
During an interview in 1988, a year after the first man landed on the moon, Sir Richard Branson was asked, "Have you ever thought of going to space, Richard?" Smiling, he replied, "I'd love to!" For him the reason was simple: He was inspired by the moon landing and he would do it and make others do it for fun. Bezos, on the other hand, has a slightly different approach. In an interview on the launch of Amazon Prime, he said that "... one day it would be great to have all the polluting industries in space, so that earth can be protected and clean..." So for him, going to space would be to make the earth a cleaner place.
Despite the seemingly clear intentions of both the billionaires, we cannot hide the one obvious and irrefutable conclusion of the race to space: The privatization of space.
Since the end of the space race in the 1970s, space exploration and research have been mostly restricted to government-led organizations like NASA and the likes. This oligopoly was broken in 2012 when SpaceX became the first private firm to dock its spacecraft, Dragon, at the International Space Station, and the first private firm to send a manned craft to the ISS in collaboration with NASA. The emergence of private players in this domain signals a change of objectives in space exploration - a shift from a purely research-oriented approach to a more mixed, research and commercial approach. An approach that has both pros and cons.
Privatization creates efficiency and autonomy. The main source of funding for space exploration and research projects was taxpayer money. Money that could be spent on more immediate concerns of the citizens, and a government in a welfare state has to, by definition and principle, look after the welfare of its citizens. So, space exploration that was already costly got lesser funding because of a lack of public support. The emergence of private entities, which have a greater degree of autonomy as compared to the government, ushers in hope of improved financing of projects. Moreover, since the private sector is known for its profit-oriented approach, decisions would be taken quicker, thus ensuring efficiency.
Privatization lacks accountability. Since it is the taxpayers' money that the government uses, the public can demand answers for its misuse or failures. This is not the case with private firms. The more control they have, the lesser control the government has. This means, that if the space were to become an industry tomorrow, government regulations might be lax. Moreover, since the profits are the motive in the latter's case, space research might take a backseat unless it furthers profit maximization.
The successful space missions of Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin are a step in the direction of the privatization of space. Before long, the space would be another holiday destination, with the former announcing space flight tickets at $450,000 per seat. Although restricted to millionaires and billionaires as of now, as more members of the free enterprise join the game, competition would gradually drive the price to reasonable and sustainable levels.
Image Credits: Pxfuel.com
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