Space Station. "But what if I could
hop in a space plane and be there in
45 minutes?" Recent developments
suggest such journeys might soon
become reality, largely thanks to
the number of privately-funded
space exploration ventures, like
Musk's SpaceX.
"It's not just about national space
agencies any more—commercial
companies all over the world are
doing their own thing," points
out Bresnik, who admits to being
surprised at the developments made
in a relatively short space of time.
"In the 1900s we had the first flight,
and suddenly all these other people
were building airplanes. And now,
just over 100 years later, there are
generations who think it's perfectly
normal to simply book a flight on
their iPhone. And we're at the same
point with space flight—you'll soon
be able to go to space without being
a professional astronaut."
All of these developments—and the
research and testing which comes
beforehand—serve another purpose.
They make getting to Mars—the
little red dot our descendants could
very well end up living on—much
easier, although there are still various
obstacles. Bresnik states that he
suspects a trip into space will soon
be as simple as a trip to Disneyland
even if the famous theme park has
certain advantages, such as more
reliable supplies of food, water,
and oxygen, to name a few. But
Bresnik also believes these are all
obstacles we're close to overcoming,
and points out that data-collecting
probes have already shown that
there's water on Mars. Food is
another story, especially given the
journey time to Mars is around seven
months. Sadly, a packet of Haribo
simply won't cut it. "When it comes
to Mars, the amount of food andSPACE TOURISM: ONE SMALL STEP FOR PRIVATE COMPANIES
78 • JULY 2019