This is in response to Libbey Zanker’s column about space tourism printed Friday. I think you missed the point behind the X Prize. Yes, it is to try and create a new market in aviation, but look at what happened when a group of entrepreneurs managed the first trans-Atlantic flights. They showed competition could create a drive to be the first and best, to create the opportunities for others to follow in their footsteps. Would we have flights leaving for the four corners of the world every couple of minutes, if it were not for these people? The X Prize is trying to create that same competition and to make it less expensive and a more regular process for going to space.

We in the United States spend billions of dollars to send a space shuttle into orbit, and then it takes months before that same shuttle can be launched. It is a slow process and costs millions of dollars to send payloads into space. What if things can be done on a more regular basis and for cheaper? What benefits will we see in our life time?

Think of the advancements we have had in our technology because a government program has gone into space. Now think what would happen when the private sector can make it cheaper and easier to get into space and what innovations and new technologies will come from these endeavors. Sure, it may cost you $50,000 to book your ticket now, but what if in our lifetime, a flight to the moon would cost the same it does now to fly to New York? Think about what new medicines will come about, what new technologies will be invented – and what a view normal people could get of the jewel we call home.

Peter O’Brien

Senior, math education