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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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The lunar misson is pretty good value for money considering what the ISS trips already cost.
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Joined: Feb 2008
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old hand
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old hand
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It depends what you mean by 'commercial' I suppose. If you mean you can pay for it if you have the money, then obviously now. Richard Branson is already offering it. But since even international jet travel is prohibitively expensive for probably 80 or 90% of people on the planet, I don't consider even that to have completely arrived commercially yet. So, probably never, apart from the most wealthy. And I consider us Westerners to be in that category. When your average Bangladeshi can save up and go to the moon for the price of a car, maybe then you could consider it 'commercial' in a meaningful worldwide sense.
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Joined: Nov 2007
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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It depends what you mean by 'commercial' I suppose. If you mean you can pay for it if you have the money, then obviously now. Richard Branson is already offering it. But he can't deliver it yet, and he's only offering suborbital "up-and-back" jaunts, not orbital stays or true spaceflight.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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"Apply the $980 annual membership dues toward the price of your future spaceflight.
Earn credit toward the price of your future spaceflight by participating in other Space Adventures' programs, such as Zero-G flights and Baikonur Launch Tours."
Gee, ain't we all gonna get a perfect and free spaceflight sooner or later? And you don't even need to apply. No need to be speedy about it.
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Joined: Feb 2008
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old hand
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old hand
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Let everybody else go; I'm not. If I can't step out for "a breath of fresh", I'm not gonna be there. I love science fiction, but don't want to live the space (or underwater) thing. Y'all enjoy! :0)
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
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I'd have to disagree with Pook's assertion that for something to be commercially available it must be affordable to nearly everyone. I can't see how the word commercial implies any sort of egalitarianism. It simply refers to commerce, which typically involves the exchange of money for goods or services. The poor, by definition, will be limited in the amount of commerce they are able to participate in.
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Joined: Feb 2008
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
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I'd have to disagree with Pook's assertion that for something to be commercially available it must be affordable to nearly everyone. I can't see how the word commercial implies any sort of egalitarianism. It simply refers to commerce, which typically involves the exchange of money for goods or services. The poor, by definition, will be limited in the amount of commerce they are able to participate in. 'Commerce' also implies everyday marketplace trade. I was emphasising the availability part more than the commercial part I guess.
Last edited by The Pook; 09/06/08 01:14 AM.
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Joined: Aug 2002
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
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It does imply that more than a tiny minority can avail themselves. Saying that space flight is currently "commercially available" is a bit like saying that the top of Everest is a popular tourist destination.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Add another criterion to the definition of "commercially available"; when space flight will take you somewhere other than right back home. Even present-day ocean cruises have stop-overs in interesting ports. Can you imagine a tourist bus pulling into today's International Space Station and dropping off about 50 tourists to come in and gawk?
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