Space Tourism: The Possibilities

I just read an interesting article called Aircraft for Space Tourism to be Unveiled. While reading it, my imagination kept getting the better of me and my mind drifted off into some of the possibilities this could bring about.

I would almost have to think that such a business would cause a chill down NASA or at least the US government's spine. Can you say "no censorship or control over anything the tourists would see"? And especially if the tourist aircraft launched from another country I doubt the US government would have any cronies on board to tell the tourists they were only seeing debris, ice crystals, or "space gas" when the inevitable sightings of bright and blinking lights occurred. It's one thing to explain away things under 50,000 feet of altitude, but quite another I'm sure to come up with good ones to explain what that was that just made a U-turn where there's no atmosphere for an airplane's control surfaces to be effective, much less it's engine. Wow, at least this could create some new government jobs: "Wanted: someone with a good imagination who can convince people they never saw anything unusual". Wait a minute—they've already employed these folks.

If these "space buses" were operated from the US, I'm sure one of the many bureaucratic restrictions placed on the private businesses operating them would be not to give credence to UFOs or risk being closed down for some violation without the word "UFO" in it. Maybe the government would "subsidize" the private business for complying with it's instructions on how to ignore a UFO, however, these businesses probably wouldn't need government assistance at the prices they will charge Joe Q. Public for a quick ride around the block.

Could well-heeled civilians in space actually help in the UFO disclosure effort? At first, at least, such tourism would be very expensive and only financially-independent tourists would be able to afford such a trip ($200,000 per head according to the article, and probably no first class seating). If enough Laurence Rockefellers witnessed such obviously unusual objects while checking out the Sea of Tranquility on the right and the Atlantic Ocean just ahead on the left, maybe we could get somewhere quicker. Nah. However, the more people who see UFOs, the fewer "non-believers" will be remaining.

It'll be interesting to see how this whole space tourism industry shakes down, but I'm not holding my breath thinking it'll start anytime soon.