The Billionaire Space Race

by Daniel Rubin

The 21st century has seen the creation of many new industries. Twenty-four years ago we didn’t have billion dollar companies creating social media apps or electric cars. However, one industry doesn’t really get talked about much, the space industry. Sure, there have been organizations dedicated to space exploration and technology since the 1950s, but private companies dedicated to space are a relatively new phenomenon. Since the privatization of the space industry, companies have put a focus towards technology to create a colony on Mars as well as return people to the moon. However, there are many concerns about the privatization of space regarding access to the general public and ethical concerns regarding the motives of these companies’ CEOs. While the commercialization of space exploration has led to significant advancements and opportunities, it also raises ethical concerns regarding access, equity, and the prioritization of profit over focusing on advancing humanity.

The origin of space exploration can be traced back to the Cold War during the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The first manmade object to be sent into space was Sputnik 1, a Soviet satellite that broke through Earth’s atmosphere in 1957. Twelve years later, the United States spacecraft the Apollo 11 famously brought the first human beings to ever land on the moon. At the time, all space programs were run by their respective governments. The first space agency was the Soviet Space Program which was founded in 1955 followed by America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. The first attempt at a privatized space company was OTRAG, which was founded in West Germany. The company primarily focused on developing space exploration technology and lasted a few years before being abandoned in the 1980s. A commercialized space industry wasn’t encouraged in the United States until 1984 when President Ronald Reagan passed the Commercial Space Launch Act. This new mandate allowed for a regulated commercial space industry in the country. In the following decades, a few private space companies were formed and launched a few satellites into the atmosphere, but none of them gained the wealth and traction that Elon Musk with SpaceX did in the 2000s.

Over the years South African business mogul Elon Musk has dominated news headlines. He is most famous for being the CEO of companies like Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter) as well as founding and co-founding other companies in the technology sector. Musk first founded SpaceX in 2002 using money from selling his software company and his digital banking company (which later became PayPal). Despite becoming a leader in the space industry, Musk’s $175 billion has been no stranger to controversy. Musk has stated multiple times that his goal for the company is a manned mission to the moon and Mars. However, there has been a history of overlooked safety concerns in the company. In 2015, the company’s Falcon 9 rocket exploded on its return trip. Investigators from NASA concluded that the failure was due to a design error caused by rapid development without enough time for further research as well as budgetary constraints. In 2019, the Crew Dragon C204 also exploded due to similar reasons. SpaceX also has a history of corruptly influencing government regulations. SpaceX has spent millions of dollars on lobbying against regulations set by NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In 2019 alone, the company spent $2.38 million dollars on lobbying expenditures. SpaceX has also developed a reputation for having a toxic work environment. Many employees have come forward with complaints about being overworked and underpaid, getting paid just above the minimum amount required for their roles. In 2023, a Reuters investigation found that SpaceX had 600 unreported workplace injuries. The injuries included “crushed limbs, amputations, electrocutions, head and eye wounds and one death. SpaceX employees say they’re paying the price for the billionaire’s push to colonize space at breakneck speed.” SpaceX has also developed concerns about being a monopolistic company in the industry. Its dominance as a private commercial space company can stifle innovation from its competitors, such as Blue Origin.

Blue Origin is a commercial space company that was founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2000. Originally starting out as an aeronautics company, they entered the privatized space market in 2012. Similarly to SpaceX, the company has a goal of leading manned missions to the moon and Mars. On top of that, the company is also developing technology for asteroid mining and planning to be the leader in space tourism within the next few years. Despite having all of these big goals, the company has proved a fraction of the success in the field that SpaceX has produced. While SpaceX was developing reusable rocket technology, Blue Origin wasn’t nearly making as much progress in the development of space technology. Instead, they’ve shifted their primary focus to atmospheric space tourism. In 2021, the company successfully launched four tourists into space, including Bezos himself. The flight lasted eleven minutes and sold the cost of its tickets in the millions. Since then, the company has done a few more space tourism flights for the ultra wealthy who could afford it. However, the company has yet to prove itself to be commercially viable. Blue Origin is primarily funded by the wealth of Bezos, the third richest man in the world. For now, Blue Origin hasn’t proved to be a leader in space innovation and exploration, and has instead proven itself to be a commercially unsuccessful company that allows billionaires to go to space.

It is clear that the state of the space industry has developed into some sort of billionaire space race. It comes across as a few billionaires with enough money to fund their science fiction space fantasies. Bezos and Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson have primarily focused their companies on space tourism, which does not allow access to the general public due to the outrageously expensive ticket costs. Despite these companies not being commercially successful, they’re propped up by their billionaire owners so they can mess around in outer space. These companies also get criticized for providing no benefit to the general public. They’re not doing research and development like NASA or the European Space Agency (ESA), they’re just giving a fun experience for the top one percent. Even the commercially successful companies that do focus on innovation such as SpaceX have a dark side with a toxic work environment and ethically questionable business practices. Despite that, there have been great benefits with the development of the commercialized space industry.

Despite their flaws, private space companies have surmounted a great amount of achievements in space exploration, research, and development. SpaceX alone has the most impressive resume including but not limited to the first landing of an orbital-class rocket both on land and on an ocean platform, first reuse and reflight of an orbital rocket, the first private company to send an unmanned and a manned spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS), and the creation of the tallest and the most powerful rocket to launch. Blue Origin has also made some innovations in the field, such as a variety of rocket engines. Blue Origin is also currently contracted with NASA for the development of a manned lunar rover to be used in NASA’s Artemis missions which plan to bring people back to the moon in 2025 for the first time since 1972. Even Virgin Galactic has plans to make some scientific progress with its Delta class spaceships which will be able to be constructed and produced faster and more efficiently than rockets from other space organizations.

Despite my critiques, I am not against a privatized commercial space industry. In many ways it has increased the rate of innovation in space and rocket technology that hasn’t been seen since the early decades of the Cold War. It has also revitalized the general public’s research in space, with NASA planning to return to the moon next year and companies like SpaceX planning to send humans to Mars in the 2030s, the future is bright for space exploration. If the space industry addressed issues regarding safety, monopolies, workers rights, and equity, it would be even more beneficial to society.