Now that our flyboy friends in the rarified air of material fortune have begun joy riding to the fringe of space, we can all fly along vicariously to admire with wonder, not just what these guys are seeing, but what they might be thinking as they see it. Are they thinking that all the work and planning was worth it? The thousands and thousands of pounds of fuel through the R and D all the way to the live flight. How about the environmental impact of the launch itself? I mean any amount of atmospheric damage is inconsequential in relation to an afternoon rocket ride that allows a few minutes of weightlessness, and arguably as great a window view ever for our heroes. What might the thoughts of these tycoon fat cats, with their bellies full of caviar and champagne, be as they pass over Yemen, for instance. Does the thought cross the mind of these intrepid space cadets that they are right over tens of millions of starving people?
It strikes me that we’re witnessing a breed of civilian that have their heads so high in the clouds that aloofness gets an entirely new parameter. The stunning lack of regard for the proportion of world imbalance on display, in this keep up with the mega Joneses space race, is downright embarrassing. Forget callous cluelessness… These guys are lost in space.