Who Gets to Send People (and Spacecraft) to Space?

Looking back at the history of spaceflight, it’s tempting to see things as bound to turn out the way they did. “Of course, the United States would land the first person on the Moon.” “Of course, we would try to send a person into space in the first place.”

However, every historic milestone was once highly debated. Can we do it? Should we do it? Many of these debates continue today. Let’s look at some of those questions.  

Is Space Only for “Superpower” Countries?  

The first countries to send humans to space were the Soviet Union and the United States in 1961. The governments were the two predominant superpowers, racing to space as part of the Cold War.  

However, in the intervening 60+ years, people from over 70 countries have been to space. Many of these astronauts were not launched into space by their country of origin. In fact, today, only three space agencies—the U.S., China, and Russia—have the resources to launch a human into space.  

Instead, astronauts from across the world have gone to space with launches from these national space programs. In 1980, for instance, the Soviet Union took a Cuban pilot to space as a diplomatic move—improving relations between the two Communist countries.  

This doesn’t mean other countries haven’t aspired to be able to launch humans into space. For instance, as soon as Zambia achieved independence, Edward Makuka Nkoloso announced that his nation would go to space and advocated for a Space Age in Zambia. The Zambian Space Academy did not send anyone to space. But they did symbolize Zambia’s desire for a space future independent of the United States and Soviet Union. (Today, many representatives from many African nations have been to space—although not Zambia … yet.)

Aspiring astronauts from around the world no longer need to rely on their government or other governments’ programs to access space. Beginning in 2021, private companies began selling seats on their spacecraft and launch vehicles to national space programs, private companies, and individuals.

Why Invest in Spaceflight?

The reasons vary.  

In his now-famous 1962 speech, President Kennedy asked the rhetorical question: “But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?”

His answer:

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

His response was poetic and inspiring … and did not really answer the question. The less poetic answer was that the United States was engaged in the Space Race with the Soviet Union. Before a watchful world, each side sought to demonstrate its superiority through impressive feats in rocketry and spaceflight. The Soviet Union launched the first satellite, the first human into space. The Soviet Union achieved the first orbital spaceflight and first human spacewalk. If it was a race, the United States was losing. Kennedy needed to find an achievement big enough to best the Soviets. He chose the Moon.  

Fast forward six decades—we’re still asking these questions. Every nation still has to decide: Will it invest in spaceflight? If so, how much? And to support which types of missions?  

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) hoped a mission to Mars would stimulate a technology economy. The challenge? The UAE didn’t have the tools to build and launch a spacecraft. It needed partners. The UAE built the Hope orbiter at the University of Colorado. Then it bought a Japanese rocket and paid the Japanese space agency to launch Hope. NASA provided technology for communications and data transmission. In 2021, Hope arrived at Mars.  

Should Businesses Be in the Business of Space?  

Businesses have long worked for governments and militaries to help them in space. Just look at the Apollo missions: private companies manufactured all the major components for NASA. North American Rockwell built the command and service modules and Grumman Aircraft Corporation made the lunar modules. Aerospace companies attract customers in an increasingly competitive market by using innovative business models and manufacturing practices. 

One goal is to make spaceflight more affordable. Increasing access to customers with relatively modest budgets, like small companies and university researchers, can help make spaceflight financially sustainable.   

Should Tourists Go to Space?

For a long time, only governments sent people to space. When civilians were sent to space, they were sent by governments. The question was “Could tourists ever go to space?”

That all changed in 2001. Space Adventures collaborated with the Russian space agency Roscosmos to send the first paying customers to the International Space Station. (The ticket price for a weeklong stay? An estimated $20 million dollars.)  

Since then, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Space X, and Axiom have all offered non-professional astronauts opportunities to travel to space. The experiences range from 15-minute suborbital spaceflights, to multiday missions in low Earth orbit, to two weeks aboard the International Space Station. Companies from around the world are investing in launch sites, vehicles, and hospitality services, growing the emerging space tourism industry.  

Even though there are more ways to go to space than ever before, social and economic barriers remain high. People usually need years of training and education or lots of money to go to space.  

The Many Ways We Debate These Questions

As we look forward to the future, we’re still debating many of these questions in corporate board rooms, government and intergovernmental agencies, social media, and in the stories we tell.

Science fiction prompts people to think about these questions. For example, as space tourism became a reality in the early 2000s, several television shows picked up on these themes. In a 2007 Dr. Who episode, a ticket on a luxury space-liner cost 20 times the annual salary of an average worker. In the TV comedy Avenue 5 (2020), a capable but underpaid crew works unseen below deck to keep a luxury space liner running.  

When these questions move from fiction to reality, our answers will shape what the future in space holds.