Space Tourism News Roundup: August 2017
Didn’t something important happen with the sun & moon this month?
When discussing the news of August 2017, it’s impossible to overlook the solar eclipse. It dominated the headlines and newsstands, and the event itself was as awe-inspiring and powerful as all of the hype made it out to be.
While the August 21st eclipse was arguably the biggest space tourism event that we’ve ever experienced, there were plenty of other headlines worth paying attention to this month. We’ve made a conscious choice not to dive deep into the pre- and post-eclipse news in this roundup, instead focusing on the other news worth knowing — and what’s still driving the industry forward.
Stay tuned for future roundups published on the first Thursday of each month.
The Philosophy & Business of Space Tourism
Discussions on the possibility and viability of taking people to space.
Though this particular section of our news roundups has shrunk over time, we occasionally find a good analysis of the space tourism industry and why it will be so momentous. We’re seeing it in the private sector…
…and from the public sector. We agree with this headline/quote and still think it’s the calm before the storm.
Space Tourism Industry News
News about the businesses currently making waves in space tourism.
To begin, let’s talk about governmental players. Japan is still working to become a major player in the global space tourism industry:
And the U.K. is also trying to find their place:
As usual, there were a large number of articles about SpaceX and other players in the industry… but SpaceX definitely had the biggest month:
The Falcon Heavy was one of two big announcements for SpaceX during August… the second was the SpaceX space suit (headline below).
Even NASA had nice things to say about SpaceX, a big change from a few years ago.
Across the board, it’s looking like 2018 will be a great year for U.S. companies…
…And for some in the U.K. too.
Lastly, we’ll start to hear a lot more about ‘spaceports’ in the next decade, and we’re already seeing headlines come up on a regular basis.
From Texas to New Mexico, the U.S. is well placed to stay a leader in both spaceports and across the board in the space tourism industry.
Space Tourism News
News related to the tourism trends and pressures surrounding space tourism.
A few weeks before the eclipse, artist Tyler Nordgren released stunning posters about the solar eclipse. These were in the same vein as NASA’s popular space tourism posts:
Florida is a top spot to visit if you love launches, and they get that not everyone is comfortable speaking about space. They put together a handy guide:
The New York Times released a cool calendar you can add to your own calendar app which shows you the top astronomical events over the next few years. Perfect if you plan to make more trips for astrotourism and space tourism.
Strangely, it hadn’t occurred to us how important it will be to have wifi on the first space tourism trips. Luckily, we’re behind the curve and others are already planning to make it a reality.
We’ve been saying it for over a year, despite the nay-sayers. Mainstream discussion and analysis is a ways off, but this is a good start.
We love seeing journalists look at space technology and apply it to space tourism. It’s a good sign for the space tourism industry when we see headlines like this:
While we’ve passed over the thousands of headlines about the August 21 solar eclipse, there were some fun headlines that came out shortly thereafter. In particular, we saw journalists encouraging travelers to plan ahead for astrotourism and space tourism events — which we firmly encourage!
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