Billionaire adventurers need to be more than space cowboys

• 

  Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson is greeted by schoolchildren before boarding the rocket plane at Spaceport America, New Mexico.

• 

  Pilot Michael Masucci makes his way to Virgin Galactic's passenger rocket plane 'VSS Unity'.

• 

  Sirisha Bandla, Virgin Galactic's vice president of government affairs and research operations, was among the passengers on the flight.

• 

  Mr Branson is driven to the rocket plane at Spaceport America, near the city of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

• 

  Mr Branson, his fellow passengers and the crew are driven to the rocket plane.

• 

  Virgin Galactic's passenger rocket plane 'VSS Unity', borne by a twin-fuselage carrier jet called 'VMS Eve', before its launch in New Mexico.

• 

  Virgin Galactic's chief astronaut instructor Beth Mose embraces Mr Branson and other crew members before boarding the 'VSS Unity'.

• 

  People gather to watch the 'VSS Unity' take off from Spaceport America.

• 

  The jet takes off on its way to space.

• 

  The 'VSS Unity' and its mothership separate above Spaceport America.

• 

  The jet starts its engines as it travels to the edge of space.

• 

  Mr Branson was one of six people on board the 'VSS Unity'.

• 

  Mr Branson enjoys the journey as the billionaire is flown to space.

• 

  The rocket plane starts its untethered ascent to the edge of space.

• 

  Mr Branson, his fellow passengers and crew on board the 'VSS Unity'.

• 

  Virgin Galactic's rocket plane begins its ascent to the edge of space.

• 

  It was the 22nd test launch to space on the 'VSS Unity'.

• 

  Mr Branson has travelled to space about 17 years after founding Virgin Galactic.

• 

  Spectators watch as the 'VSS Unity' separates from its mothership.

• 

  The 'VSS Unity' lands after taking passengers including Mr Branson to the edge of space.

Sadly, I have no idea what it must be like to be a billionaire. To be able to afford anything you wish, to not have to worry, to not give so much as a second glance at a restaurant bill, to go anywhere you fancy on a private jet, to cruise around in a superyacht must, truly, be wonderful.

All I can do is dream: what would I spend the dosh on, what would I be doing if I were in their position? It is partly for this reason that rushing to condemn three billionaires, Sir Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, for devoting part of their fortunes to launching themselves and others into space is misplaced.

It’s their money, they can do as they wish. True, they may go to some trouble to reduce their tax bills, but be honest now, who doesn’t? Besides, unless I am missing something, they are not breaking the law. If we, as a society, don’t like rich folk minimising their dues, then it’s up to us, up to our governments, to tighten the rules and close the loopholes.

Where I have an issue is with the emissions their rocket blast-offs leave behind. Eloise Marais, an associate professor of physical geography at University College London, reckons that on every space flight, up to 300 tonnes of carbon dioxide are split between four or so passengers, compared with up to three tonnes of carbon dioxide per passenger on a long-haul commercial airline flight.

So far, of course, we have seen only two space trips – one by Branson, the other by Bezos – but as Marais says: “It [commercial space travel] doesn’t need to grow that much more to compete with other sources.”

Their plans are only excusable then, if their endgame is of such benefit to mankind to outweigh the harm.

Bezos’s declared aim is to put human beings on different planets and turn us into a “spacefaring civilisation”.

Meanwhile, manna from heaven for the climate change lobby and his critics, Bezos’s Amazon trucks continue to damage the one planet we’re currently obliged to live upon.

Branson, of course, does little better with his Virgin Atlantic long-haul airline.

• 

  Billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos embraces veteran aviator Wally Funk after Blue Origin’s reusable New Shepard craft capsule returned from space on Tuesday, July 20, 2021.

• 

  Jeff Bezos, Funk and and gap-year student Oliver Daemen, 18, disembark after Blue Origin’s reusable New Shepard capsule returned from space.

• 

  Jeff Bezos disembarks after the flight.

• 

  New Shepard touches down on Earth.

• 

  New Shepard approaches the ground.

• 

  The capsule carrying Jeff Bezos and three crew members returns to Texas by parachute.

• 

  The booster rocket returns to the launch pad.

• 

  The rocket lifts off.

• 

  The launch viewed from far.

• 

  The rocket is launched on the world’s first unpiloted suborbital flight.

• 

  It took off from Blue Origin’s launch site, near Van Horn in western Texas, US.

• 

  Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket is launched from its spaceport.

• 

  The rocket lift-off.

• 

  The launch pad. Blue Origin’s first crewed mission was an 11-minute flight from Texas and back. Reaching an altitude of 106 kilometres, it coincided with the 52nd anniversary of the first Moon landing.

• 

  People watch on a television screen as the rocket sits on the launch pad.

• 

  The crew members prepare for the flight.

• 

  The crew members prepare for the flight.

• 

  Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, rings a bell before boarding the flight.

• 

  This still image taken from video by Blue Origin shows Funk, Daemen and the Bezos brothers before they leave for the flight.

• 

  A monitor in a zone reserved for the media shows Wally Funk being interviewed.

• 

  This still image taken from video by Blue Origin shows Funk, Jeff and Mark Bezos, and Daemen as they ascend the crew tower for the flight.

• 

  This still image taken from video by Blue Origin shows, from left, Mark Bezos, Jeff Bezos, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen as they travel to the launch pad.

• 

  Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, a private equity executive, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen pose in an undated photograph.

Musk can lay claim to be more eco-friendly, having advanced the electric car, although the batteries and resources devoured in making a Tesla would not put him on the “green” side of the spectrum.

The charge can be made, then, with some justification, that this is three of the very richest guys in the world playing at being space cowboys, fulfilling their boyhood fantasies, when the money they’re lavishing could be put to more valuable use, like help saving the Earth, or alleviating poverty and inequality.

The fact they’ve turned their rush into some sort of macho rivalry adds to the unedifying spectacle.

Bezos has tweeted that Branson’s spacecraft are “airplane-sized”; Musk has tweeted that Bezos is a copycat and used a cat emoji. They’re charging fares as well. So, Bezos sold a place on his Blue Origin space company’s New Shepard rocket for $28 million in an online auction; Branson is charging a mere $250,000 for the chance to look at us from space.

Underneath the razzmatazz and being seen to indulge in what appears to be the latest example of boys outdoing each other for bigger and faster playthings, at a time when the rest of the population is grappling with the pandemic, not to mention heat domes and wildfires and horrendous flooding, there is a serious aspect.

The three are not alone. Space is opening up rapidly, to private companies and nations.

Some think the money spent on space travel could be better used. EPA

The days when it was a two-horse race between the US and Russia now seem distant. The US, in particular, is in danger of being caught out. Once reliant on co-operation, even with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, that has effectively ended with the Joe Biden era’s frostier relations.

The financially strapped American space agency, Nasa, would like it very much if the uber-rich could step up – Nasa has formed a close relationship with Musk’s SpaceX and the Tesla tycoon is building a landing craft for the Moon, to the agency’s instruction, and will be shuttling astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Russia has formed a space bond with China and the pair are to build a base on the Moon. China, meanwhile, is also targeting Mars, having sent a rover there and announced a human crew will be going to the Red Planet in 2033. It’s also constructing a spaceship capable of reaching 14.5 billion kilometres from Earth.

Against this increasingly competitive and fraught backdrop, and western governments that must cater for all sorts of social and economic needs and priorities, a shove or two from benign, if ego-centric, cash-heavy moguls is a blessing.

The worry is that the three are doing this for some ulterior purpose, that as the Earth is hit with melting polar ice caps and rising sea levels, they and their successors will be able to wave goodbye, take off and leave this increasingly troubled environment behind.

They deny that, of course. Instead, they play the good-of-mankind card, and if there is to be an escape route it will be available to the many, not just the lucky few. Yes, they want to bring in revenue in the process – these are not people who amassed their vast riches by giving money away.

But Bezos does not appear to be joking when he says: “What we’re really trying to do is build reusable space vehicles. It’s the only way to build a road to space, and we need to build a road to space so that our children can build the future.”

Perhaps most tellingly, the public, well the American public anyway, appear to agree. Despite numerous politicians weighing in to denounce the threesome and repeated widespread criticism, 72 per cent of Americans, according to Pew Research, believe the US should be striving to lead the world in space exploration.

The tendency is to view them as wealthy men dabbling in adventures. Look beyond that, however, and they are showing us what is possible, using their money to kick-start and to forge ahead.

As the saying among Nasa hands goes, “space is a place not a programme”. For now, they merit begrudging applause, becoming louder should they remain true to their word.