The Start of Space Tourism

Humans have been exploring space for the last 52 years. It started with the moon landing on July 20, 1969. Who would have thought that humans could make a giant leap that day?

Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson and his crew members are floating in zero gravity onboard the Virgin Galactic spacecraft during Sunday's flight. (Screenshot from Richard Branson's Twitter)

Yesterday, another history was made. Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson reached the edge of space aboard his spacecraft. He was with crew members Colin Bennett, Beth Moses, and Sirisha Bandla.

Planetary experts say that the flight kicked off space tourism. Sunday's flight was 17 years in the making, and it started with Branson's dream of space travel.

Branson is a dreamer, and when he reached the edge of space, he had a message to the next generation of dreamers.

Seeing Branson reached space made me happy. I remember dreaming of space travel when I was in grade school. I would look at posters of the planets and wonder how it would feel seeing Earth from space.

I was not born in 1969, but the story of the moon landing encouraged me to learn more about planets, astronauts, and space exploration. I even have mobile applications (Sky Safari, Sky Map, NASA, and ISS on Live: Space Station Tracker & HD Earth View) that will help me locate the sun, planets, meteors, asteroids, and the International Space Station.

Click here to see mobile applications about space for Android and Apple devices.

Aside from Branson, billionaire Jeff Bezos is set to go to space, too. Bezos will ride his Blue Origin's New Shepard on July 20, which is the 52nd anniversary of the moon landing.

Click here to view an infographic of billionaire space tourism by Al Jazeera.

Making space travel available to everyone in the future will really provide a different perspective. I hope that when that time comes, every human being will realize how we are all connected.

Meanwhile, here is Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot that I want to share with you. We may not be able to ride commercial spacecraft sooner than expected, but at least Sagan's book will give us detailed information of what our home planet, Earth, looks like from space.

"Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves." — Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

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P.S.

This post is part of my 30-day diary, an assignment for my Journalism in Public Life subject. All the embedded links and visuals are attributed. Feel free to leave your comment below or send me a private message if you have questions or clarifications. Thanks for dropping by.