If you had $20 million, would you be a space tourist?

[Spicer]

My wife and I were having a fun discussion recently. Do you know what I'd do if I had the money? I told her that I would be a space tourist. If I had a spare $20 million, I definitely would buck up and ride the rocket.

Here's why!
1) Most extreme experience possible!

2) Soyuz is a very safe spacecraft. If I have to fly to space, fly me on that. That rocket has been flown for about 50 years.

3) Unfortunately, my advanced degree isn't in aeronautical engineering. I'm also not a military pilot. I'll never get a ride on the Space Shuttle...One of my childhood dreams

4) I would love to use a Space Toilet!

 

[Andy44]

I would save 90% of the cash and fly on Virgin Galactic instead. And I have no desire to use a space toilet. After reading Mike Mullane's book it sounds disgusting.

 

[Spicer]

yea, but virgin galactic is only a suborbital flight. You get a limited amount of zero-g. Also, I'd love to see the ISS!

 

[Deke]

If I had the $20 Million I'd buy a nice place in Cuba, sit down on a nice lawn chair in the sand, beer in hand, watch one Nuke head West to East and the other from East to West. Smiling the entire time.

 

[spcefrk]

I'd design and build a personal experimental plane. 20 million is more than enough to comfortably develop, build, and test a personal plane

 

[V8Li]

So what did she (your wife) said?
PS: I don't think is the most extreme experience possible...

 

[mrspacely]

If I had the $20 Million I'd buy a nice place in Cuba, sit down on a nice lawn chair in the sand, beer in hand, watch one Nuke head West to East and the other from East to West. Smiling the entire time.

meanwhile a drug cartel sneaks onto your property and slits your throat for all your money/estate. you are safe nowhere on earth, so you might as well go into space.

 

[thomasantony]

I would basically save up, make some good investments if possible, or deposit overseas. I will wait for the prices to come down for space tourism. Bigelow's space hotel, SpaceX Dragon etc. are still coming up. In the meantime, I will make sure I get a steady monthly income to buy all the latest gadgets/pc hardware as they come out. . Damn, I wish I could afford the ATi Radeon HD4870.

 

[simonpro]

Of course I would. It'd be great fun.
I'd only do it if I had more than $20M, otherwise i'd have nothing to live on when I got back

 

[Pilot7893]

I often daydream about living on the ISS with my friends. My answer? Hell yeah.

 

[Moonwalker]

If you had $20 million, would you be a space tourist?

No.

If I had $20 million I would buy a small flat in the countryside (where I nearly live already), get an ATPL-A and try to find work as a first officer on a Boeing 737 (-800 favoured) and maybe on a 787 later on. The rest of the money, which still would be more than 19 million, would remain at my bank account. No expensive holidays, no expensive cars (just one electric car) not even buying a mobile phone then (I never had one until today) and once again no space tourism to waste my money.

I would only pay for education and training to become an astronaut interested in science and work for science. In my point of view space flight should continue to be related to science and to be something special. I don't like the idea of space tourism. There is enough useless mass rourism down on Earth already. But I think that space tourism anyway will become as rarely as tourism on submarines if at all

 

[Bullethead]

If I had $20M, I'd make sure I had 3 or 4 replacement livers lined up and then spend the rest of my life drunk on the good stuff.

 

[Andy44]

I don't like the idea of space tourism. There is enough useless mass rourism down on Earth already. But I think that space tourism anyway will become as rarely as tourism on submarines if at all

Honestly, you are a major

. (WAH WAH)

 

[astrosammy]

We don't need 20 million $ to get to Orbit. We just have to wait for SpaceShipThree.
http://www.space-tourism.ws/spaceshipthree.htm

 

[Moonwalker]

We don't need 20 million $ to get to Orbit. We just have to wait for SpaceShipThree.
http://www.space-tourism.ws/spaceshipthree.htm

I wonder what the ticket price will be since even a few minutes of suborbital flight with Space Ship Two will cost about 200.000 USD.

But is there any fund for a Space Ship Three at all? Space Ship Two isn't even in the air yet...

 

[astrosammy]

They are even planning a SpaceShipFour.
But this will only tranport satellites into Orbit.

 

[SlyCoopersButt]

I couldn't be payed $20 million to ride any modern day spacecraft. I could say good bye to what genes I've got and any idea of off-spring forever due to the radiation. And Zero-G is too crippling. I value my health too much for that. I wouldn't even enter a nuke plant for 10 minutes. Astronauts are even classified as radiation workers. With that amount of money I would only consider investing in working on developing an un-manned private spacecraft/Satellite. I'd probably be making it into a pegasus launcher capable payload.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Screw any existing space launch companies. I'd build my own!!! A simple two-stage one-man capsule shouldn't be too hard with only $20 million. I figure, if I have anything left, I can start a satellite-launch firm and make more money that way

(If you must know, during boring high school classes, I dreamed up an entire private space agency run by myself and two sisters [which is even odder since I don't have any siblings!])

 

[GregBurch]

No.

If I had $20 million I would buy a small flat in the countryside (where I nearly live already), get an ATPL-A and try to find work as a first officer on a Boeing 737 (-800 favoured) and maybe on a 787 later on. The rest of the money, which still would be more than 19 million, would remain at my bank account. No expensive holidays, no expensive cars (just one electric car) not even buying a mobile phone then (I never had one until today) and once again no space tourism to waste my money.

I would only pay for education and training to become an astronaut interested in science and work for science. In my point of view space flight should continue to be related to science and to be something special. I don't like the idea of space tourism. There is enough useless mass rourism down on Earth already. But I think that space tourism anyway will become as rarely as tourism on submarines if at all

I think they have medication for this condition now ...

 

[Urwumpe]

I think they have medication for this condition now ...

I hope so. I wouldn't also want to become space tourist when I suddenly had 20 million €.

When I had 200 million, I would spent 20 million for this dream. But otherwise, I have my priorities currently more on more conservative things:
- Buy a good house
- Put money aside for the education of my children
- Put money aside for my final days
- Invest money in founding my own small spaceflight business.
- Invest little money in a traditional metal plate for my business, to keep it grounded well.
- Use the remaining money as economic reserve for running my business and work on making sure that my children will one day fly into space as part of their everyday life.

Honestly. 20 million for being a payload is not what I consider spaceflight. I would have no objections flying into space for becoming some sort of low earth orbit plumber, but just for the sake of being there, it is not what I consider something to be proud of.