The stratification of who gets to leave the stratosphere is not another division we need.
www.nbcnews.com
The space race used to be between superpowers, but now it’s between the super-rich and everyone else. Last month, Jeff Bezos announced that soon after leaving behind the role of CEO of Amazon, he’d be leaving Earth, too.
No doubt there’s value to all space exploration, and the knowledge and advances that come from private companies will benefit the public. But the stratification of who gets to leave the stratosphere is not another division we need.
It seems unlikely that the billionaires who travel to space will engage in a meaningful way with the broader population afterward, in part because they’re so far removed from other people. In fact, their privilege has put them at such odds with Earth’s inhabitants that many don’t want them to come back, epiphany-equipped or not. A petition that implores, “Do not allow Jeff Bezos to return to Earth,” has over 150,000 signatures.