PressEthic

Question: What do you do with your money when you have millions of dollars lying around?

Answer: You become an astronaut – sort of.

Millionaire Gregory Olsen has become the third rich man in the last few years to pay a space agency to take him on a space mission, this time to the international space station. That’s actually a pretty good way to spend your money – if you happen to have $20 million that you’re not doing anything with at the moment. I suppose NASA could use the money – after all, they do plan to develop a new type of space vehicle to get back to the moon (though they haven’t started taking people into space yet).

The thought of space tourism invokes different feelings in different people. What for vs. Wow I can’t wait to get there. I personally belong to the latter group. Space has always held a fascination for me, and had I not completely failed physics in school, I would have wanted to become an astronaut. I have to say that if I did have a few extra million dollars lying around, I might spend it like Mr. Olsen did.

It’s relaxing to read stories like this after seeing the front pages of the most major newspapers – death in Iraq, the Supreme Court’s problems, political opponents bashing each other, terrorism. Stories like this bring you back; let you revel in the innocent wonder of childhood once again. Space is so mysterious, so foreign to most of us – almost magical. It’s delightful that websites, magazines and newspapers are still running stories like this: they seem insignificant when looking at the wider world picture, but they really are fun to read.