Ready for blast off! Cue the music ... For days now, I've been hearing the
poignant song, "Imagine" by John Lennon in my head every time I hear, read, or
even think about Anousheh
Ansari's flight to the International Space Station. While reading her blog
today, I learned that the hauntingly beautiful song is actually one of her
favorites. That's not really a surprise however; most of us space-lovers know
the relevance of that song to our cause.
As
the author of the book, "Women Astronauts," I really wanted to write something
to commemorate the flight of the first
female space tourist, but I can't! She's nowhere in sight because her
flight hasn't been booked yet. Ansari,
who is set to blast
off into space in less than twelve hours from this writing, is not what I
would call a tourist. The self-described "space ambassador" is better described
as a "space adventurer!"
Think
of it this way, your typical tourist doesn't spend six months away from family
and friends in intensive training and study in a foreign country. Adventurers,
on the other hand, do spend months training to climb Mount
Everest, or dive to the bottom of the ocean, or to fly into space. That
takes extreme dedication to accomplish your own personal dream. "Tourists" on
the other hand, plunk down a credit card, buy some appropriate duds, and go on
a trip.
Ansari
joins the other space adventurers. These are independently paying space travel
customers; Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth,
and Greg
Olson, who've paid their own way into space. Ansari is the first female
space adventurer to pay her own way. So what? It doesn't really matter what
gender she is, her passion is what drives her. Besides, her flight really isn't
that different from British space adventurer Helen Sharman.
The Russians also flew Sharman into space back in 1991, but her flight was
(partly) funded by a corporate contest.
What
makes Ansari's flight special? It's not because she's the first woman to pay
her own way into space. It's because of her efforts and dedication to making
space accessible to everyone. Personally, I'm impressed with her because she
has had the dream of spaceflight since she was a kid, saw an opportunity, and
worked to make it happen. Like me, and maybe you too, she was born with an
extreme passion for space exploration and desire to travel into space. Unlike
most of us, she's actually making her dream happen. And with her support for
space tourism causes, like the X-Prize,
she's helping to make that dream happen for you, me, and others too.
I
admit that I'm a bit jealous because she gets to see the Earth and stars from space and experience
weightlessness. But, I'm also happy for her. And I think she's bringing hope to
all of us that dream of flying into space and seeing our beautiful
planet Earth as one.
So,
while these guys and gals are not what I would call "space tourists," they are
space adventurers. They are pioneers blazing the way into space for all of us.
And someday, when the first real space tourists actually fly into space, that
will mean that anyone who's got the money will be able to experience space at
any time. Imagine being able to just book your flight and go into space for a
ten-day vacation!
When
will we have real space tourism; the kind where you can put your money down and
just go? When will we have easy and safe access to space? When will the openings
for space adventurers allow dozens or hundreds of people per year to experience
space? We must work together with private industry to make it happen. We need
to demand our space. We must make our politicians understand that they must
work to remove roadblocks to private industry's access to space. And we must
get as many people interested in space exploration as possible. That part is
straightforward however; all we need to do is share with them our vision of the
future.
Space
tourism can help to make Earth a better place in the same way that
international travel does. Travel expands our view of the world. It makes us
realize how much we have in common with people who live differently than we do.
It makes us see what we have in common. Many astronauts and cosmonauts come
back with profoundly different views of the world after seeing it from space,
the way it really is - without borders.
The
true power of space "adventurism" or "tourism" is that it can bring home that
perspective of the Earth as one, no separation because of borders, politics,
ethnicity, religion, or anything else. Again from the immortal words of John
Lennon, "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday
you'll join us. And the world will be as one." And music out...
Laura
S. Woodmansee (www.woodmansee.com) is a science journalist and JPL Solar System
Ambassador. She is the author of three space books; Women Astronauts, Women
of Space: Cool Careers on the Final Frontier, and most recently, Sex in
Space. She can be contacted via her web site at www.woodmansee.com.
Interview
with Anousheh Ansari, the First Female Space Tourist
Anousheh
Ansari Looks to be Next Space Tourist
First
Female Space Tourist Readies for ISS Trip
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