太空旅行的未來是否只屬于超級富豪?

太空旅行的未來是否只屬于超級富豪?

A space revolution is upon us — so says the new wave of tech entrepreneurs pledging to colonize the cosmos.

一場太空革命正在向我們襲來——新一波發(fā)誓要殖民宇宙的科技企業(yè)家如是說。

Several billionaires and their rocket companies say the tiny roster of humans — 573, by the count of space expert Jonathan McDowell — who have flown to space is about to get much longer. They promise that more Average Joes can have experiences like highly trained astronauts.

幾位億萬富翁和他們的火箭公司表示，據(jù)太空專家喬納森·麥克道爾統(tǒng)計(jì)，已經(jīng)飛上太空的人類人數(shù)只有573人，他們的時間將會更長。他們承諾，更多的普通人可以擁有像訓(xùn)練有素的宇航員的經(jīng)歷。

But the galactically curious should take heed: Space travel will probably remain prohibitively expensive for anyone outside the 1% for a long, long time.

但是好奇銀河系的人應(yīng)該注意了:太空旅行對于1%以外的人來說，在很長很長一段時間內(nèi)，可能仍然是非常昂貴的。

A stay on the International Space Station costs tens of millions of dollars. A group called Space Adventures has offered wealthy individuals the opportunity to fly to the station aboard Russian-built rockets, and so far seven clients have made the trek. Most recently, Cirque Du Soleil billionaire Guy Laliberte paid $35 million to spend a couple weeks in space.

在國際空間站停留要花費(fèi)數(shù)千萬美元。一個名為“太空探險”(Space Adventures)的組織為富有的個人提供了乘坐俄羅斯制造的火箭飛往空間站的機(jī)會，到目前為止已有七名客戶進(jìn)行了這次長途旅行。最近，太陽馬戲團(tuán)的億萬富翁蓋伊·拉利伯特花了3500萬美元在太空呆了幾周。

SpaceX is also planning to charge an undisclosed amount of money to a Japanese billionaire for a moon mission slated for next decade.

SpaceX還計(jì)劃向一位日本億萬富翁收取一筆金額不詳?shù)馁Y金，用于未來10年的探月任務(wù)。

On the cheapest end of the spectrum is Virgin Galactic. The company set up by Richard Branson plans to offer 90-minute flights into the upper atmosphere for about $200,000 to $250,000 each. That's roughly the median home price in the United States.

維珍銀河(Virgin Galactic)的成本最低。理查德·布蘭森(Richard Branson)創(chuàng)辦的這家公司計(jì)劃提供90分鐘的高空飛行服務(wù)，每次飛行約20萬至25萬美元。這大概是美國房價的中值。

The far-out future

非常遙遠(yuǎn)的未來

Space vacations may remain out-of-reach for most of us in the foreseeable future, but many space enthusiasts insist that one day humans will be zipping around the solar system to work on other planets or orbiting habitats.

在可預(yù)見的未來，太空旅行對我們大多數(shù)人來說可能仍然遙不可及，但許多太空愛好者堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為，總有一天，人類將環(huán)繞太陽系飛行，到其他行星或軌道上的棲息地工作。

Today, the most well-known space visionaries are three billionaires: Branson, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Blue Origin/Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. They've gained die-hard fans, as well as critics.

如今，最著名的太空夢想家是三位億萬富翁:布蘭森(Branson)、SpaceX首席執(zhí)行官埃隆•馬斯克(Elon Musk)和Blue Origin/亞馬遜(Amazon)創(chuàng)始人杰夫•貝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)。他們贏得了鐵桿粉絲，也有批評者質(zhì)疑。

"The space barons are shrewdly tapping into our respect for astronauts ," New Yorker writer Ceridwen Dovey wrote in a piece published last year. "They seem to be counting on us to be awestruck by whatever it is they do in space, and to overlook the fact that their motives are not exactly pure, nor are their methods of getting us there egalitarian."

“太空大亨們精明地利用了我們對宇航員的尊重，”《紐約客》作家塞利文·多維在去年發(fā)表的一篇文章中寫道。“他們似乎指望我們對他們在太空中所做的一切感到敬畏，卻忽視了這樣一個事實(shí):他們的動機(jī)并不純粹，他們讓我們到達(dá)太空的方法也不平等。”