Australian-born NASA astronaut Andy Thomas has a vision for Woomera, the long-forgotten Australian launch site: a “10-year plan to use the Outback site to send international tourists into space and launch satellites”, according to The Advertiser, an Adelaide newspaper. Thomas has suggested that the Australian government spend A$150 million (US$110 million) over ten years to upgrade the site’s infrastructure so it can support orbital and suborbital launches. Thomas appears to be insprired by New Mexico’s plans to build a spaceport: “It just takes an investment, a will to do it and a commitment like New Mexico has done,” he told the paper. And to say he is fond of space tourism is a bit of an understatement: “Space tourism will be running into the billions of dollars in the years to come,” he said. “It’s amazing how many people have got that cash lying around.”
Space tourism, public space travel, and the beginnings of a new industry
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1 comment so far
It never ceases to amaze how gullible people can be when you add the word “space” to any idea.
I can only hope the Australian government doesn’t fall for yet another crazy spaceport idea. What is the purpose of rushing to build a spaceport for a vehicle that doesn’t exist? Imagine how asinine the Aussie government would have looked for investing money into an airport in the 1890s…
First they were suckered into Christmas Island, now it’s a refurb of Woomera. I wonder - have these people NEVER taken a course in economics?
Space Tourism is a fictional market - so far THREE people have gone to the Space Station, in the 5+ years since that destination opened for tourists. And yet, the self-serving proponents of this business believe that there is a market for BILLIONS of dollars of suborbital tourism in vehicles that have yet to be built.
Sounds like someone has an agenda they are trying to sell.
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