Billionaires in space: Lucianne Walkowicz on making space exploration more accessible

In the summer of 2021, three billionaires – Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Jared Isaacson – made history as they blasted off into space on their own privately funded spaceflights. In her essay, astronomer Lucianne Walkowicz analyzes the implications of this new chapter in space exploration. Walkowicz suggests these billionaire-funded launches reflect current inequities here on earth, including rising income inequality exacerbated by the pandemic.

Lucianne Walkowicz, "Don’t Count on Billionaires to Get Humanity into Space," Scientific American, 23 September 2021.

 

1. In her first paragraph, Walkowicz introduces the “they say” argument her essay responds to. What strategies from Chapter 1 does she use to present this argument? Summarize her response to this “they say” argument using a template from Chapter 2.
   
2. Walkowicz is interested in making space exploration “more accessible in a meaningful sense.” What does she mean by this? What groups of people have been historically underrepresented in NASA spaceflight? What problems does Walkowicz see in how people are selected to participate in billionaire-funded space flights, like Jared Isaacman’s Inspiration4?
3. Walkowicz uses the first person a few times in her essay. Locate one instance where you see her using “I.” Why do you think she decided to use the first person here? How does this choice affect her tone and her argument? Read this short biography of Walkowicz. How does knowing her background affect how you read and respond to her essay?
4. Another voice in this conversation is Megan McArdle, who explains the benefits of billionaire-funded spaceflights. Read her op-ed. What is one important point McArdle and Walkowicz agree on? What is one significant disagreement you notice between their arguments? Enter the conversation by responding to their arguments using a template from Chapter 4.

Comments

[Jason]

In response to question three on the use of the first person singular pronoun "I" in this article.

She used "I" after listing the records that have been set by civilian space flights. She was using this as an opportunity to talk more openly about her personal experience and thoughts on the individuals who where going. She used the first person plural possessive "our" at least once also. She was attempting to be more personal and personable throughout this entire article to pull at emotions to disarm readers causing them to be more likely to agree with her arguments.

Reading her biography made little difference in how I would respond to her essay. Yes she is educated, but this piece was intended to be an opinion piece. While her facts were more than likely correct, she clearly had an axe to grind. Her opinion as an astronomer in this piece matters very little. She could have just as easily been an economist or engineer. The reason for this is that the piece is more about societal injustice and inequality than about space itself or even space travel.

[Whitney Jennings]

For feedback to question two on "more accessible in a meaningful sense."

Walkowicz states, that space exploration needs to be “more accessible in a meaningful sense.”She believes that people like Jared Isaacman, a billionaire, control our hope for "average" people within space explorations. Multiple times she compared Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to Jarod. She gave an example of their beginning stories and how all these billionaires' stories started out the same. Walkowics believes that the participant selected and application process is faulty. The individuals that are chosen to be astronauts tend to be extremely privileged people. She wrapped up her thought about our extremely privileged astronauts by mentioning one of Jarod's favorite personal hobbies is to fly jets for fun.

[Aweis Aweis]

I love how she exposes the elite not caring about the lower or poor people by not bothering to offer opportunity we cannot afford.

[Casidee Marie Miller]

Walkowicz is interested in making space exploration “more accessible in a meaningful sense.” What does she mean by this? What groups of people have been historically underrepresented in NASA spaceflight? What problems does Walkowicz see in how people are selected to participate in billionaire-funded space flights, like Jared Isaacman’s Inspiration4?

What Walkowicz means by this is the rich have to help support the poor. The rich control the process of "average" people in explorations. Some people that have been brought up in this topic is Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. They have been compared to Jarod multiple times in this article. Throughout this article these billionaires stories have been shared. The author believes the process of the people selected for the program is unfair. The people who are selected, the majority is very privileged people.

[Juels Lyon]

In response to question two, Walkowicz says "More accessible in a meaningful sense." When she says this quote, she means that eventually, when prices go down more people will be able to afford to do these trips and not just the wealthy. People who have been underrepresented are minorities because they weren't treated with the same respect. A problem with the billionaire-funded space flights is that they are "wealthy, able-bodied, cisgender white men"(Walkowicz).

[ryan]

To answer question 3, In the sixth paragraph she uses the first person view to show her own personal connection and feelings with the crew memebers and their space flight. This shows a more personal side of her and how she connects to it. After understanding her background I trust her to be a credible source because she has liable information and works in the astronomy field.

[Dayonna]

The part were you talking about the face few barriers are mostly wealthy white men, I think that's very interesting and true.

[JenniferUpperman]

This was a opinion report. I agree that space is more reachable but is it really. Most just dream of space and yes none test pilots went to space, but you have to accomplish great things to get a chance. That's not life as we know it. It was intreasting in what was said though.

[Manuel Pina]

To answer question #2, I believe she means as in more accessible to the public. One of her main points is how going to space is only achievable through obtaining a vast amount of wealth, which isolates a majority of the Population. A group of people who have been historically underrepresented in NASA Spaceflight would have to be women in general. As there are certain requirements to obtaining such goal,"[As] astronauts were also required to have been military test pilots, which effectively barred women from the job.", this ultimately cuts off the positions solely to men. One of the main problems Walkowicz has in how people are selected to participate in billionaire-funded space flights is how,"[It] was an opaque mixture of money, luck, competition and Isaacman’s whim." Where as the traditional process is thoroughly open to anyone. Isaacman's example plays a crucial role as the way his roles were carried out, will most likely have the same outcome for other billionaires choosing who goes to space.

[Camilo Garcia Jr.]

Lucianne Walkowicz , in her opinion piece, Don’t Count on Billionaires to Get Humanity into Space, argues that space travel wouldn't be more accessible in a meaningful sense. The way I think of it is when she said “ in which “anyone” could go to space.” Which also more to add to that point is that She believes it's becoming more accessible but to only those who have lots of money because of the way the flights are funded which are all privately funded which “ are making space more “accessible.” “. The way the author uses “they say” is by giving us all the key details to the way the space flight had been all put together from the details of how all the astronauts came to be on the same flight. Overall the author's point is to show and give us different details to get her point across as why billionaires in space is something that the “normal public” wouldn’t ever be able to experience. Which comes back to the point that space travel wouldn't be more accessible in a meaningful sense.

[Victor Paniagua]

Question 2:
"more accessible in a meaningful sense."

In the article, Walkowicz mentions that space exploration needs to be “more accessible in a meaningful sense.” To explain her statement, Walkowicz strongly believes that individuals who are similar to Jared Isaacman (billionaire) control the hope of the "average" people within exploring space and having the privilege to go. In essence, the group of people who have been underrepresented in NASA space flight are those of lower class/less knowledgeable. Walkowicz compares Musk and Bezos to Jared Isaacman numerous times, and gives an example of their own stories of starting out to become the people that they are today (how billionaires' stories started out the same way). Walkowicz makes clear that she believes the selections of participants and the application process for this trip to space is not considered correctly/unfair. It is clear to note that the individuals who were and are chosen to be astronauts are typically/often the most privileged set of individuals. Thus, the application process and the selection of people in general for the process of going to space is faulty and unfair, noting that the only people who get to participate in this trip are the wealthy.

[Damian Lopez]

Walkowicz is interested in making space exploration “more accessible in a meaningful sense.” What does she mean by this? What groups of people have been historically underrepresented in NASA spaceflight? What problems does Walkowicz see in how people are selected to participate in billionaire-funded space flights, like Jared Isaacman’s Inspiration4?

What Walkowicz means by "more accessible in a meaningful sense" is that lower class people will be able to afford this trip as well. The groups that have been historically underrepresented in the NASA spaceflight are the minorities such as Hispanics, African Americans, and Native Americans. The problems that Walkowicz see when people that are going participate in the flight program will be "wealthy, able-bodied, cisgender white men" (Walkowicz).

[Manuel Pina]

Hello, Jennifer,

I particularly disagree with how you mention,"Thats not life as we know it." It is unreasonable to assume hard work does not pay off as a great majority of life goals can be accomplished through hard work, determination, and ambition.

[Manuel Pina]

Hello, Jennifer,

I particularly disagree with how you mention,"Thats not life as we know it." It is unreasonable to assume hard work does not pay off as a great majority of life goals can be accomplished through hard work, determination, and ambition.

[Camilo Garcia Jr.]

Hello, Manuel I totally agree with your post, especially in the parts of how going to space would only be possible when having a large amount of wealth under your name, because it can cost in the upwards of millions which not your average person has that type of money to spend on going to space. Overall it was a very good response while also using the different techniques we learned the past weeks.

[Victor Paniagua]

@Jennifer

Hello, I disagree with how you mention, "That’s not life as we know it." It is extremely ignorant to assume that working hard does not pay off in the end. Various life goals can be accomplished with ambition and determination for what one is aiming to achieve.

[Manuel Pina]

Hi Lucianne,

I disagree on how space would be more meaningful, though based off of the article, the whole aspect of meaningful was contradicting as only wealthy people are able to achieve this goal.

[Damian Lopez]

This was a opinion report. I agree that space is more reachable but is it really. Most just dream of space and yes none test pilots went to space, but you have to accomplish great things to get a chance. That's not life as we know it. It was intreasting in what was said though.

Hello Jennifer,
I very much disagree with you. Such as "That's not life as we know it." It is very harpy of you to assume that hard work doesn't pay off. As many life of goals you have to work hard to achieve that goal. Also learn how to spell.

[Camilo Garcia Jr.]

Hello Damian, I agree with your response to a certain extent because I believe as time comes in the future not all space travel is going to be able to be afforded to the lower class people so for that case I don’t believe it will be more accessible in a meaningful sense.

[Victor Paniagua]

@Victor

Question 2 quotes:

One of the main issues Walkowicz has in how people are selected to participate in billionaire-funded space flights is how,"[It] was an opaque mixture of money, luck, competition and Isaacman’s whim."

Walkowicz argues, “For space to become more accessible in a meaningful sense, we must embrace a broader definition of who can become an astronaut—without requiring that access to space be mediated by people with extreme privilege.” In this quote from the article, Walkowicz emphasizes that there needs to be more equal in the selection process of individuals who get to participate in the trip.

[Manuel Pina]

Hi Jason,

I dot understand how having an experienced background, does not add character or value. This plays in with ethos, as credibility is a major aspect to opinion.

[Vivian Perez]

Answer to question number 1. The strategies that Walkowicz uses form chapter 1 are that she summarized the information that “they say” and she explains it a little further. In her essay “Don’t Count on Billionaires to Get Humanity into Space” Walkowicz advocates that the massage form inspiration4 was not taken because “Onboard Inspiration4 were four people, none of whom are a professional astronaut in the traditional sense.” Which this takes out opportunity of people that are actually professionals to go to space.

[Camilo Garcia Jr.]

Hello Victor, I totally agree with you because it is true that billionaires are sometimes the ones that are making the average people lose hope especially when it comes to space travel because to go to space it takes lots of funding and billionaires have it easier because they themselves are also able to find it so it’s easier for them than the average person.

[Damian Lopez]

To answer question 3, In the sixth paragraph she uses the first person view to show her own personal connection and feelings with the crew memebers and their space flight. This shows a more personal side of her and how she connects to it. After understanding her background I trust her to be a credible source because she has liable information and works in the astronomy field.
@ Ryan

Ryan I very much agree with you. Such as you said "This shows a more personal side of her and how she connects to it" (Ryan). I also trust her because she has a credible source and she using very liable information.

[Victor Paniagua]

@Jason,

Hello Jason, it is incomprehensible by one individual having an experienced background does not add character or value to one’s opinion. Moreover, ethos plays a vital role as credibility is a major element to one’s statement.