Note to Bezos, Branson and all other rich space-racers: dream bigger

Was it something we said? All the billionaires seem to be buzzing off into outer space lately. Most recently, Richard Branson ventured 80 kilometres up into the bright skies above New Mexico, technically the edge of space and hopefully an altitude high enough for a complimentary packet of honey-roasted peanuts.

During the 15-minute voyage, Branson recorded this message: “I was once a child with a dream … Now I’m an adult in a spaceship looking down to our beautiful, beautiful earth. To the next generation of dreamers: if we can do this, just imagine what you can do.”

Richard Branson aboard his Virgin Galactic VSS Unity space rocket in early July.Credit: Getty Images

Maybe I would have felt more inspired if a man worth $8 billion poured his heart and soul into fulfilling another common childhood aspiration: fighting fires, for instance, or scaling a very tall building in red-and-black lycra. As it was, the taxpayers of New Mexico spent around $290 million on making Branson’s astronaut dream come true.

Next up was Jeff Bezos, who blasted off with his brother in tow. Apparently, like Branson, Elon Musk and others, Bezos has been obsessed with space since childhood. On being named dux of his high school, Bezos delivered a speech about overpopulation and pollution. His solution was to relocate civilisation – “hotels, amusement parks, yachts and colonies” – to space. Earth would be preserved as a national park.

I know we shouldn’t judge Bezos too harshly for his world view as a 17-year-old. After all, I had a fringe when I was that age, and I now understand that this is a terrible idea for anyone with curly hair. But it’s awfully revealing that even then, Bezos’s “solution” to earthly woes was to move on to the next frontier.

It reminds me of that old Silicon Valley adage: move fast and break things. It also jibes with Amazon’s business model, which is that a new piece of plastic will solve most, if not all, of your problems.

Soon enough we’ll add “Mars” to our travel bucket lists, alongside ascending Machu Picchu and crossing the Queensland border.

It is astonishing to think that for less than 1 per cent of his wealth, Jeff Bezos could fund the production of enough vaccines to inoculate the entire world against COVID-19. Instead, he’s engaged in pursuing a Plan B space race to achieve what humans already did, better, 50 years ago.

Count me out from Branson’s “generation of dreamers”. I’m a Millennial. Our dreams extend as far as owning a house in Sydney with indoor plumbing. Yet “space tourism”, as Branson calls it, is here to stay: another idea foisted on us by a very rich man that makes about as much sense as sending a submarine into a labyrinthine Thai cave system to locate lost schoolchildren.

Soon enough we’ll add “Mars” to our travel bucket lists, alongside ascending Machu Picchu and crossing the Queensland border. The well-heeled will talk about space the same way they do Venice: not as authentic as it used to be; too crowded in summer; best seen with a Bellini in hand while riding a gondola to George Clooney’s wedding reception.

Okay, maybe not that last bit. “Can’t drink Bellinis there” is one of the many reasons I remain unenthused by the prospect of space tourism. Does anyone remember the astronaut food they used to sell at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum gift shop? The ice-cream, in particular, was abominable, and I’m of the opinion that a holiday without ice-cream is a lot like a world without appropriate tax codes for billionaires: overheated.

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