Whether you pledge allegiance to Captain Kirk, or like me were pained when Princess Leia’s storyline was side-tracked in favour of Luke Skywalker’s (frankly overrated) return in Star Wars, one thing is undeniable: space, and its unknown, has beguiled generations.
 
Jeff Bezos, the richest man on Earth, just yesterday blasted into space on the inaugural crewed flight of his rocket ship, the New Shepherd. He joins fellow billionaire Richard Branson, who made his own trip on board a Virgin Galactic rocket on 11 July. Elon Musk joined in the friendly competition by poking fun on Twitter at Bezos’ suborbital space flight (he wasn’t technically in space, but rather within the Earth’s atmospheric limits).
 
Putting banter aside, the episode raises questions about whether space has become the new playground for the rich. The evidence of commercialisation is there: both Branson and Bezos were testing their rockets for space tourism, and word on the street is that Bezos’ rocket boasts far superior windows (although a four times heftier price tag)—so pick a window seat if you can.
 
Despite waning investment and interest in space over the last decade, government efforts seem to be back too. Musk recently won a $3 billion NASA contract to build a lunar lander for its Artemis program, which when completed will return people to the moon for the first time since 1972.
 
However, the sums spent here have not gone unnoticed by climate change campaigners who draw attention to other news this week that could use a billionaire’s boost. For a month, north-east Siberia—the coldest inhabited place on Earth—has been devastated by uncontrollable forest fires, due to dry soil and trees. The Amazon rainforest – once considered “Earth’s lung” as a carbon sink – is now emitting more CO2 than it absorbs as a result of excessive deforestation. Floods in Germany, which local politicians have firmly attributed to climate change, have also now claimed the lives of more than 180 people.
 
Of course, investing in space exploration and protecting the planet needn’t be mutually exclusive. But if the media perceive that Bezos, Branson and Musk are choosing space over other priorities, their space odyssey might be the makings of a PR crisis.