Space has been rather crowded recently.
In June, China's Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft sent three taikonauts into space. In July, Britain's Virgin Galactic sent its founder to join the party. Nine days later, American billionaire Jeff Bezos enjoyed the view of Earth for the first time. And most recently, the first all-civilian crew soared into orbit aboard a SpaceX rocket ship.
All of a sudden, the galaxy of stars is no longer far away. But does it mean space travel for everyone is around the corner? Or is it just another battlefield for some countries?
A wonder: Space for everyone
The SpaceX crew only spent five months learning everything. Virgin Galactic's pre-flight training program only took five days. And for Bezos' Blue Origin crew, it took 14 hours.
A still image from a video shows New Shepard rocket launching from Blue Origin's Launch Site One near Van Horn, Texas, U.S., July 20, 2021. /Reuters
People like Bezos have shown the world that after a short period of training, non-professional astronauts can successfully finish the flight. Conducting large-scale pre-flight training and enabling the general public to step into space are no longer impossible.
However, even if someone is physically and intellectually capable of flying into space, the tickets are prohibitively expensive.
Virgin Galactic's recent ticket sales had a starting price of $450,000 a seat. And they could end up selling for much higher. Not to mention SpaceX's ticket prices, which are more expensive because their spacecraft fly higher and longer after reaching space.
The priority: Safety guarantee
Around 1.4 percent of manned spaceflight missions have resulted in fatalities. In a 2018 survey, one of the top two reasons given by 58 percent of Americans who said they would not want to board a spacecraft was that space travel would be "too scary."
As private commercial companies have emerged, the safety issue has become more complicated. Last December, at the last minute of launching a Starship prototype, SpaceX ignored at least two warnings from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, aboard a Virgin Galactic vessel with other crew members in the spacecraft of company's first fully crewed test flight, July 11, 2021. /CFP
After Virgin Galactic's manned spaceflight in July, the FAA suspended its next flight because a warning light came on due to the vehicle going off trajectory.
When training programs are simplified and non-specialists fly, how regulation can ensure the safety of commercial spaceflights is of paramount importance. Any accident would be an irreversible tragedy and a huge blow to the space industry.
A belief: Spirit of cooperation
For the general public, there's still a long way to go before viewing the Earth from space, but for countries like America, space has long been a battlefield.
About two years ago, former U.S. President Donald Trump officially created the U.S. Space Force, the first new U.S. military service in more than 70 years.
"Space is the world's newest war-fighting domain," he said. "Amid grave threats to our national security, American superiority in space is absolutely vital. And we're leading, but we're not leading by enough. But very shortly, we'll be leading by a lot."
This aggressive statement is clearly a reflection of America's future direction, while, in fact, American space strategy dates back to the Cold War. The famous "Star Wars Program" proposed by the Reagan administration tried to take space as a battlefield and use space-based lasers to fight against the Soviet Union.
And as more and more people can be sent into space more frequently, it may lead to a brand new picture for aggressive countries like the U.S. that the future space might not be just a long-range strategic arena, but also a face-to-face combat field.
Therefore, a critical thing has to be stressed now: Do not forget that space field is full of cooperation, and it should be.
Taikonauts enter the core module of China's space station, June 17, 2021. /CFP
China is working on expanding international cooperation through its own space station. Currently, nine space experiment projects from 17 countries have been selected for cooperation in the Chinese space station.
Space has so many possibilities, but it shouldn't be a continuation of the animosity. As human beings go step by step into space, let's greet the stars embracing us with a gift of unity and friendship. And the stars will surely give us plenty in return.