Private space companies’ efforts are a boost to the government’s own space programs, in addition to being objectively cool.
by Christian Britschgi
Reason.com
The idea of billionaires launching themselves into space on their own rockets has provoked apoplexy from some progressives, who view the spectacle as an ostentatious display of economic inequality that must be fixed with a wealth tax.
Witness the response to Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson’s successful journey to the edge of space yesterday on his company’s Unity spaceship.
The flight—which carried Branson and five other crew members more than 50 miles above the Earth’s surface—represents an important milestone for the nascent private space tourism industry. But several commentators were only concerned with what the British billionaire’s money could have funded instead.
On Twitter, Mother Jones’ Clara Jeffery declared it an “advertisement for a wealth tax”: