I am not surprised.
First of all, the impact on the environment must be very significant and I don't think it's justifiable just to massage the egos of a bunch of rich people.
Not really. Those trips are going to be one-offs for most of the passengers. It's not like Branson or Bezos or any of their customers are going to be taking the trip on a weekly or even yearly basis.
But plenty of rich people fly in their private jets pretty regularly.
But the other more important thing is that it would be a very, very grave mistake to allow wealthy people to somehow stake a claim to any part of space or space exploration or the intellectual property rights to any discoveries made as part of these missions.
Why? The government is pretty good on basic research, but developing practical uses has always been best left to the private sector.
And even in the Age of Exploration, the voyages were funded based on the hope of finding lucrative trade routes or new territories to settle and make use of. That's why for example the East India Company was founded.
And if Blue Origin develops technologies that may be useful and profitable, why should it not be able to profit from it for the 25 years prescribed in the patent law? Other than envy of some posters here of course.
In fact, I think Bezos is being too timid. With his wealth, plus some outside investors, he could really secure his place in the history books by building a permanent Lunar colony. I think it would be feasible to do it by 2040, complete with space port and a practical Lunar Shuttle system. And after that is done partner with a high end hotel chain like Four Seasons or Mövenpick to build a full service hotel as an annex, maybe by 2050.
Of course you are way too young to remember the early days of NASA and the beginnings of space exploration but I'm not.
True, I grew up in the age when NASA was but a shadow of its former self.
Today, the world is filled with products and devices that directly arose from the space program. I don't want Jeff Bezos near any of the next waves of technology and innovation to arise. That belongs, by rights, to the world, not to any individual who has the ego and the pocketbook to grab even more for himself. It's obscene. And dangerous.
If Bezos' company develops a technology, then, by rights, it belongs to it for a limited time. Just like any technology developed by any other company. That's the whole purpose of the patent law.
You do not encourage innovation by saying, ok you invested money, hired great engineers, steered R&D in a particular direction etc. but that doesn't matter since all your
base innovation are belong to
us the government.