The race is on in the $600 billion space industry economy, and while Australia and its sector have been in their infancy for decades, there are new expectations that it will play a significant role in a new age. “Australia has been denied access to space for a very long period, and with these new launch vehicles and civil space flight built by individuals in their own firms, now it’s accessible to us,” Dr. Chris Boshuizen told A Current Affair.
Dr. Boshuizen just returned to Earth after becoming Australia and its third astronaut. He was among four people on a four-person journey aboard Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin spacecraft, including Hollywood’s space star William Shatner. “It was far more magnificent than you could ever think,” he added, “the color of the atmosphere was the most exquisite sapphire I’ve ever seen in my life, shimmering as a shield over Earth.” “We climbed up in about 4 minutes, therefore the rocket separated from the capsule and we flew up another minute or two to the maximum, and the total trip up and down was 12 minutes.”
He thinks that his latest voyage to the stars might be the start of a new era for the human race and which we can all travel someday. So, how soon will the rest of us be able to fly to space?