On April 14, Blue Origin sent an all-women tourism flight off to space on an NS-31 rocket from west Texas. These women were an array of celebrities, and controversy soon arose over the purpose of the flight, leaving many frustrated.
The passengers set onboard to promote female empowerment included Jeff Bezos’s girlfriend and author Lauren Sánchez, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, entrepreneur and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, TV personality Gayle King, singer-songwriter Katy Perry and producer Kerriane Flynn.
The flight was a rapid 11 minutes and the women flew 100 kilometers above Earth, which resulted in a few moments of weightlessness.
While it was a short trip, it was a historic one. Blue Origin broadcasted the fact that the trip was the first all women’s flight since 1963.
Celebrities could have been potentially invited for free, but the others were required to pay a $150,000 deposit. Previously, a seat for a Blue Origin flight was auctioned for $28 million. “The immense price tag of space is a con because it is being portrayed as “newly accessible” but with a cost of $150,000 just to reserve a seat, it can easily be the same cost of attending 4 years of college, making it an extreme luxury that few can afford until the price decreases through mass commercialization,” said Junior Brandon Thomas. These ludicrous prices go hand-in-hand with the supposed purpose and backlash it received.
The environmental impact of such extravagant space tourism is frequently overlooked. Each passenger on a normal space tourism flight emits at least 83 tons of carbon into the atmosphere, which is equal to the amount that Thailand emitted in the whole year of 2023. Although the new Blue Origin rocket uses water vapor and does not emit mass amounts of carbon dioxide, environmental damage is still done to the atmosphere with waste and other emissions.
Launching these celebrities into space for recreational purposes does unnecessary harm to the environment and is ultimately unnecessary. Additionally, sending celebrities into space can overlook the space advancements made by actual astronauts. “The U.S. FAA defines the passengers on New Shephard as a spaceflight participant as they did not participate in any activities related to the success of the flight – launch and reentry. If we consider the spaceflight participants as astronauts, we are undermining the time and effort that actual astronauts must put in over most of their career for one chance to leave Earth’s atmosphere,” said science teacher Emma Freyermuth.
Advancements in space exploration and tourism are being encouraged to adjust for sustainability. “The environmental impacts of space travel should be discussed more, because though we are making progress in reducing the negative effects of space travel, the system is not completely sustainable. Commercialization will only make the issues worse because of the impact from an increased amount of launches. The popularization of reusable rockets increases the sustainability of space travel. The next step is finding a fuel source that has a low carbon footprint and isn’t harmful to the ozone layer,” commented Thomas.
While it may seem astounding to send anyone to space, it has negative impacts. There seems to be no scientific purpose for these celebrities going into space when the valuable resources could be better utilized for space research and scientific development. “This entire event was something out of the ordinary that should not be dismissed. I am proud of everyone that is involved in this successful and safe adventure, but I am still disgusted by the negative impact it has made to Earth,” added Freyermuth.
There are various issues and holdbacks to the emerging commercialization of space. “Due to the fact that private flights are still in their infancy, unforeseen problems could arise: increased air traffic, pollution, and poor flight coordination. As it is now, there isn’t enough infrastructure to support the growth of commercialized flight,” added Thomas.
With the goal to promote women’s empowerment and other symbolism, there are a plethora of other ways to achieve that. Katy Perry claimed she would write a song about the experience after her flight, but Katy Perry songs are not as vital in today’s society when monumental space research could be done with a trip to space. If space companies are going to send people to space, they should do it with a purpose in mind.
The evolution of space exploration has changed tremendously over time. The Apollo 11 mission in 1969 was a huge step for space exploration in the United States. People probably never fathomed that a selection of celebrities would be sent on a short trip to space in 2025. Space exploration should be promoted for scientific discoveries and research purposes, not for commercialization.
