I can’t believe I’m writing this, but my friend Trevor is now an astronaut. Mr Beattie, the dictionary definition of an ebullient, working-class Brummie, was astronaut number 18 on Virgin Galactic 04 on Friday (Star Trek spacesuit and all).
He has dreamed of this all his life and, although he is now more of an acquaintance than a close friend, it was emotional watching his flight’s return online. And then I got to wondering, in this time of economic hardship and environmental crisis, should we be going up there at all?
This is Trevor’s second brush with fame. As an advertising executive, he was responsible for two of the more famous ad campaigns of the 1990s: Wonderbra’s traffic-stopping “Hello Boys” poster, and French Connection’s iconic “fcuk”.
When he set up his own ad agency in the early 2000s, he took on an account pro bono: Richard Branson’s nascent Virgin Galactic – to which Trevor (now 64) had already paid $200,000 to be one of the first astronauts. Virgin Galactic 01, scheduled for 2008, actually happened in June.
Trevor was able to take his school project into space with him from when he was an 11-year-old schoolboy in Balsall Heath. Incredibly, he outlined a dotted area in his exercise book for the press cutting that he predicted would cover his space foray. He fully expected that by the time he was “really old” (16 or 17), “everyone would be going”. It wouldn’t be a big deal, he thought.
He was wrong. Going into space is as much a grand dream or folly today as it was in 1969, when Neil Armstrong inspired a generation with his “giant leap for mankind”.
Space remains controversial both on a personal and corporate level. Only this week, astronomers expressed concern that light pollution from dozens of new satellite launches, including the giant “squash-court size” BlueWalker 3, will interfere with star-gazing. And, obviously, rocket launches can leave a huge carbon footprint – although today’s liquid hydrogen powered rockets leave a cleaner vapour exhaust.
In truth, the numbers of launches do not have that much environmental impact for now, at least compared to regular air travel. But what if this really does become a commonplace activity? We know another friend awaiting his turn on Virgin Galactic. What happens when those numbers are in the thousands?
Then there’s the expense. Britain spends just 0.05 per cent of GDP on its space programme, the lowest amount of any major European country. That’s still millions of pounds in a time of economic crisis. We decided a decade ago that we would not contribute to the International Space Station (ISS), as it was not “value for money”. Nasa, which spent over $22bn last year, accepts it cannot afford another ISS, without private funding.
Do we leave space exploration to Richard Branson, Elon Musk and wealthy Trevors? Clearly, therein lies ethical dangers.
We will always be curious about space and whether there is life out there. That such life could represent an existential threat suggests we must explore further. However, it is difficult to see the argument for greater public spending on space over investment in economic recovery or the environment.
But, wow, am I envious of Trevor: the Brummie rocket man.
