Opinion: What Scott Thinks of Billionaires in Space

Billionaires in Space sound to me like the old Muppet skit Pigs in Space.

But that isn't the point of this post. I see a lot of complaining that Bezo and Branson, the billionaires, are squandering their money when it could be used for good.

But it isn't. Our system of cut-throat capitalism means that we cannot get at their money regardless (there was an excellent article about why the IRS can't get it the NY Times).

So when we (the US government with the backing of most of the country) quit trying to get manned space flight back, NASA went the only route that would work. They outsourced manned space flight to various companies, pretty much all funded by billionaires, because who else has money to spend on a very risky adventure with a great chance of failure and a small chance of success. 

Branson is working on space tourism. He is using a place to launch his ship. That plane designed and funded by the late Paul Allen, one of the founders of Microsoft.

Elon Musk (who hasn't gone up to satisfy his need to show a bigger dick) has created SpaceX which can now launch people and goods (and 1 Tesla) into space. He has been successful with replacing NASA in manned space that Space X now ferries goods and people up to the International Space Station. And he does it cheaper than outsourcing to Russia, to the point Russia - without American funding for their rockets - is seriously considering quitting the International Space Station.

Bezos company (Blue Origin) plans both a space tourist operation and manned Moon Operations.

And, if you outsource development of rockets, space vehicles, moon landings and Mars colonization to private companies, of course their founders are going to use it to travel in. In fact, think of the shit Bezos would have received if he didn't fly up on the first manned flight and it killed people.