You may have wondered like me: does it make sense to send rich guys like Jeff Bezos and ‘Star Trek’ actor William Shatner into space?
Wendy Whitman Cobb, aerospace political scientist in the Air Force, says yes. Our conversation challenged my thinking about space projects, like those by Bezos and Elon Musk, that envision a future far away from Earth.
If you yelled “MIDLIFE CRISIS” when Bezos touched space last year or asked why Musk’s SpaceX company has attracted so much attention, today’s newsletter is for you.
Whitman Cobb, who has a Ph.D. in political science, said tourist trips were a first step in transforming space travel from bizarre to routine. And she believes amateurs in orbit are a testing ground for worthy aspirations — including establishing Mars, as Musk envisions, or colonizing space to support more people and industry than Earth can, like Bezos. strives for it.
To me, that sounds like the escapist fantasies of billionaires. But Whitman Cobb’s optimism provides a useful counterpoint to the regular warnings in this newsletter that technology isn’t a magic solution to our problems. Whitman Cobb agrees, but also said technology had sometimes done magical things in space exploration.
To rewind the past decade, companies such as SpaceX, Bezos’ Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and New Zealand-based start-up Rocket Lab have sought to become bigger players in space travel. Companies have always worked with governments on space travel, but now they are more involved in transporting astronauts, enthusiasts, satellites and cargo to space.
There is debate about the proper role of governments versus corporations in space, but Whitman Cobb believes those corporations have made space tasks cheaper and easier. That frees NASA to dream big about projects like pursuing lunar colonies and exploring deep space.
SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have also led space cruises. Those are joyrides for a small number, but Whitman Cobb said they helped improve the safety of space travel and sparked enthusiasm for searching beyond our planet.
“The more ‘normal’ people we see flying into space, more of the audience will see this as best they can and be excited about it,” she told me. “That public opinion is key to many things these companies and the US government are doing in space.”
(Whitman Cobb said these views were hers, not those of the US government, which employs her. She also said she received no funding from commercial space companies.)
However, the ultimate goal goes far beyond tourism. Musk and Bezos envision moving people or polluting industries into space or creating a Martian civilization. I worry that is a pretext for ignoring problems on Earth.
Whitman Cobb understood why I asked if those were reckless delusions, but she also doesn’t want us to lose sight of the potential benefits of dreams. The history of space exploration, she said, is of crazy and not necessarily lofty visions that become actionable and useful.
The US missions to the moon in the 1960s were driven by a desire to prove US superiority over the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, nationalist space missions have spurred the development of smaller and smaller electronics we use every day, improved health technology, and even gave us memory foam. The growth of the past decade in commercial spaceflight has lowered the cost of access to space and enabled new ideas such as small-scale satellites to map the Earth from above.
Whitman Cobb said the advanced technology commercial space companies were developing for spaceflight could also seep into other areas that help us.
Calling herself a space nerd, she also said that awe of space was a worthy goal. “It’s also itching, so to speak, with humanity’s desire to explore, discover and understand the world around us,” she said.
I asked Whitman Cobb if she would like to live on Mars. “Absolutely,” she replied. “Maybe not forever.”
I will not let go of all my doubts about rocket tourism or the space fantasies of billionaires. When companies play a big role in the space, they can hoard inventions instead of benefiting the public. Space tourism also harms the environment, and it is not clear how much space travel and trade are worth. We know that technologies, even the useful ones, have drawbacks.
Whitman Cobb wants us to have that skepticism alongside excitement. The history of space travel, she said, shows that selfish dreams can benefit all of us.
Before we go…
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More Earthbound Musk news: He’s been in hot water for his tweets. Musk also recently bought a large share of Twitter’s shares. Nobody really knows what he’s doing, my colleagues Mike Isaac and Lauren Hirsch report. On Tuesday, Twitter said Musk would join the company’s board of directors.
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What does an altruist do with a cryptocurrency fortune? Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is one of the world’s richest people and believes in using scientific reasoning to do the most good. Bloomberg News tells us about 30-year-old Bankman-Fried, asking, “Should someone who wants to save the world first amass as much money and power as possible, or will the chase ruin him along the way?” (A subscription may be required.)
Related: Ezra Klein, my Times Opinion colleague, interviewed Dan Olson, a video essayist who warns of the dangers of crypto-ideology and culture.
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How to properly recycle your gadgets: It is not uncommon for the batteries in electronics to cause fires in landfills and recycling centers. The Washington Post explains how to safely dispose of your gadgets and batteries. (A subscription may be required.)
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