Nel 2001 il miliardario americano Dennis Tito spese oltre 20 milioni di dollari per essere il primo turista a godersi una settimana di vacanza sulla Stazione Spaziale Internazionale. Da allora altri 7 turisti hanno avuto la fortuna di visitare lo spazio fino al 2009, anno del pensionamento dello Space Shuttle, usato per questi viaggi.
Le vacanze spaziali sono tornate d'attualità in questi ultimi mesi grazie agli investimenti di tre miliardari americani: Richard Branson con Virgin Galactic, Jeff Bezos con Blue Origin ed Elon Musk con SpaceX vedranno concretizzarsi vent’anni di lavoro e investimenti quasi in contemporanea.
Il primo facoltoso a godere del lavoro della propria società è stato Branson. L’11 luglio 2021, alle 16:30, lo spazioplano della sua Virgin Galactic è partito dal New Mexico per il volo inaugurale. I passeggeri del volo hanno potuto passare circa 4 minuti in assenza di gravità. La società ha in previsione di effettuare 400 voli annui a partire dal 2022, ad un prezzo di circa 250'000 dollari per passeggero.
Nata nel 2000 Blue Origin è stata battuta sul tempo di pochi giorni, poiché il suo volo inaugurale si terrà il 20 luglio 2021. Saranno quattro i passeggeri del razzo: Jeff Bezos, il fratello Mark, Wally Funk ed un quarto passeggero che si è aggiudicato il biglietto per 28 milioni di dollari tramite un’asta.
Elon Musk invece, non si accontenta di copiare gli altri e dal 2021 inizieranno i viaggi della sua SpaceX. Dureranno tra i 2 e i 4 giorni e richiederanno un addestramento specifico per i passeggeri. L’obiettivo però è quello dal 2022 di offrire vacanze di 10 giorni sulla Stazione Spaziale e addirittura dal 2023 di viaggiare intorno alla Luna.
Turismo spaziale, il commento di Bruno Storni
Telegiornale 11.07.2021, 22:00
%20--%3e%3csvg%20version='1.1'%20id='Layer_1'%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20xmlns:xlink='http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink'%20x='0px'%20y='0px'%20viewBox='0%200%20138.2%2048'%20style='enable-background:new%200%200%20138.2%2048;'%20xml:space='preserve'%3e%3cstyle%20type='text/css'%3e%20.st0{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:%23AF001E;}%20.st1{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:%23FFFFFF;}%20%3c/style%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M0,48h138V0H0V48z'/%3e%3cpath%20class='st1'%20d='M9.3,31.7l-0.4,2.7C8.8,35,9,35.2,9.5,35.3c2,0.2,4,0.3,6.1,0.3c5.6,0,9.7-1.8,9.7-7.1c0-3.1-1.3-5.4-6-6.6%20l-2.6-0.7c-1.8-0.5-2.6-1-2.6-2.3c0-1.9,1.7-2.2,3.3-2.2c2.2,0,4.4,0.2,5.3,0.2c0.9,0.1,1.2,0,1.3-0.8l0.4-2.6c0-0.1,0-0.2,0-0.3%20c0-0.1-0.1-0.2-0.1-0.3s-0.1-0.1-0.2-0.2c-0.1,0-0.2-0.1-0.3-0.1c-2-0.2-4.1-0.3-6.1-0.3C11.8,12.4,9,14.9,9,19c0,3.6,2,5.8,5.4,6.7%20l2.6,0.7c2.1,0.6,3,1.2,3,2.5c0,2-1.3,2.3-4.6,2.3c-1.5,0-4-0.2-4.9-0.3C9.6,30.9,9.4,31,9.3,31.7'/%3e%3cpath%20class='st1'%20d='M36.4,23.6l-0.3,1.5C36,25.4,36,25.6,36,25.9c0,0.4,0.1,0.8,0.4,1.1l4.2,7.6c0.1,0.3,0.3,0.5,0.6,0.7%20c0.3,0.2,0.6,0.2,0.9,0.2h3.8c0.5,0,1.1-0.3,0.5-1.2l-5.1-8.6c1.7-1.1,3.6-2.6,3.6-6.1c0-4.4-2.5-6.9-7.9-6.9h-7.8%20c-0.7,0-0.9,0.2-0.9,1v20.8c0,0.7,0.2,1,0.9,1h3.2c0.7,0,0.9-0.2,0.9-1V16.8h3.3c2.1,0,3.1,0.8,3.1,2.8c0.1,0.6,0,1.2-0.3,1.6%20c-0.3,0.5-0.7,0.9-1.3,1.1C37.1,22.7,36.8,22.3,36.4,23.6z'/%3e%3cpath%20class='st1'%20d='M66.1,34V22.7c0-0.7-0.2-1-0.9-1h-5.8c-0.7,0-0.9,0.2-0.9,1v2.5c0,0.7,0.2,0.9,0.9,0.9h1.7v5%20c-0.6,0.1-1.1,0.1-1.7,0.1c-4.8,0-6-3.1-6-7.4c0-5.4,2-6.8,6.5-6.8c1.3,0,3.1,0.1,4.1,0.2c1,0.1,1.2,0,1.3-0.8l0.4-2.5%20c0.1-0.7,0-1-0.8-1.1c-1.8-0.2-3.6-0.3-5.4-0.2c-8.2,0-11.6,4.3-11.6,11.3s2.7,11.9,11.3,11.9c2,0.1,4,0,6-0.4%20C65.9,35.2,66.2,34.9,66.1,34'/%3e%3cpath%20class='st1'%20d='M74.9,31.7l-0.4,2.7c-0.1,0.5,0.2,0.7,0.6,0.8c2,0.2,4,0.3,6.1,0.3c5.6,0,9.7-1.8,9.7-7.1c0-3.1-1.3-5.4-6-6.6%20l-2.6-0.7c-1.8-0.5-2.6-1-2.6-2.3c0-1.9,1.7-2.2,3.3-2.2c2.2,0,4.4,0.2,5.3,0.2c0.9,0.1,1.2,0,1.3-0.8l0.4-2.6c0-0.1,0-0.2,0-0.3%20c0-0.1-0.1-0.2-0.1-0.3s-0.1-0.1-0.2-0.2c-0.1,0-0.2-0.1-0.3-0.1c-2-0.2-4.1-0.3-6.1-0.3c-5.8,0-8.6,2.6-8.6,6.6%20c0,3.6,2,5.8,5.4,6.7l2.6,0.7c2.1,0.6,3,1.2,3,2.6c0,2-1.3,2.3-4.6,2.3c-1.5,0-4-0.2-4.9-0.3C75.3,30.8,75,30.9,74.9,31.7'/%3e%3cpath%20class='st1'%20d='M93.1,31.7l-0.4,2.7c-0.1,0.5,0.2,0.7,0.6,0.8c2,0.2,4,0.3,6.1,0.3c5.6,0,9.7-1.8,9.7-7.1c0-3.1-1.3-5.4-6-6.6%20l-2.6-0.7c-1.8-0.5-2.6-1-2.6-2.3c0-1.9,1.7-2.2,3.3-2.2c2.2,0,4.4,0.2,5.3,0.2c0.9,0.1,1.2,0,1.3-0.8l0.4-2.6c0-0.1,0-0.2,0-0.3%20c0-0.1-0.1-0.2-0.1-0.3c-0.1-0.1-0.1-0.1-0.2-0.2c-0.1,0-0.2-0.1-0.3-0.1c-2-0.2-4.1-0.3-6.1-0.3c-5.8,0-8.6,2.6-8.6,6.6%20c0,3.6,2,5.8,5.4,6.7l2.6,0.7c2.1,0.6,3,1.2,3,2.6c0,2-1.3,2.3-4.6,2.3c-1.5,0-4-0.2-4.9-0.3S93.1,30.9,93.1,31.7'/%3e%3cpath%20class='st1'%20d='M120.2,23.6l-0.3,1.5c-0.1,0.3-0.1,0.5-0.1,0.8c0,0.4,0.1,0.8,0.3,1.1l4.2,7.6c0.1,0.3,0.3,0.5,0.6,0.7%20c0.3,0.2,0.6,0.2,0.9,0.2h3.8c0.5,0,1.1-0.3,0.5-1.2l-5.1-8.6c1.7-1.1,3.7-2.7,3.7-6.1c0-4.4-2.5-6.9-7.9-6.9H113%20c-0.7,0-0.9,0.2-0.9,1v20.8c0,0.7,0.2,1,0.9,1h3.2c0.7,0,0.9-0.2,0.9-1V16.8h3.3c2.1,0,3.1,0.8,3.1,2.8c0.1,0.6,0,1.2-0.3,1.6%20c-0.3,0.5-0.7,0.9-1.3,1.1C120.9,22.7,120.6,22.3,120.2,23.6'/%3e%3c/svg%3e)