Celebrities in Space: A Giant Leap Backwards...?

So you probably remember a bunch of women heading up into space on Blue Origin a few weeks back now.... the most famous of them was Katy Perry, maybe the rest of them are famous too, if they are I've never heard of them.

I think the widespread mockery that characterised the public reaction is about bang-on.

I mean it was space travel, but only just, with the journey lasting barely 11 minutes with the passengers only getting a brief hit at weightlessness.

I think Perry has justifiably had the most derision aimed at her, I mean singing "What a Wonderful World" isn't particularly bad, but that line on her return.... she never realised "how much love there was inside of you… how loved you are."

What a load of utter BS.

Perry also boasted the mission was a chance to "put the 'ass' in astronaut" which is at least an honest reminder that this was a consumer affair.

There were trained astronauts on board, I guess there had to be, but this was mainly a leisure event, a girrrly day out, with no real purpose other than Instagram momentable, even one of those astronauts used the opportunity to experiment with how her hair would hold up in zero Gs.

But maybe with some purpose...?!?

Every flight pushes us closer to more affordable space travel, and I guess, given the cost, it can't help to have a little publicity along the way.

And in the broader scheme of thing Missions to Mars are no longer science fiction, and there will be data from this flight that can contribute towards improving efficiencies.

Final thoughts... too decadent...?

I'm not agains space travel, not at all, but I think it's a question of priorities. I see little point in it TBH given the amount of conflict in the world, the way things are going space will just become militarised and end up benefitting a tiny, tiny, tiny minority.

Probably the money could be better spent here on earth?!?