The Case Against Space Tourism - The Wall Street Journal

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket ship and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceplane performed flawlessly during brief, newsworthy flights this month that seemed fun and even inspiring.

Space travel is dangerous, and a question worth asking is: How many will die?

The last time there was talk about sending an ordinary person into space, NASA was doing the talking.

In 1985 Christa McAuliffe beat out more than 11,000 other applicants to win a seat on the space shuttle Challenger.

Almost overnight, she became a national celebrity: America’s teacher in space.

In fact, like today’s Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic vehicles, the space shuttle was an engineering experiment in progress.