UN expert says off-world tourism could benefit humanity, not only rich

Space tourism has a lot of positives and can help inspire people to protect the planet, the UN’s space chief has said.

Simonetta Di Pippo, director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, said increased access to space would make it “a part of our lives”.

The comments were made days after Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, suggested saving the Earth should come before space tourism.

“Great brains and minds should be trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live,” she told the BBC.

Ms Di Pippo, who visited the Italy pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai on Monday, told The National space tourism could benefit humanity in many ways.

“It’s really the attempt of bringing space closer to humanity and humanity closer to space,” she said.

“Space would become something that’s outside, dark, cold and far away, but part of our lives.”

On October 13, Star Trek actor William Shatner became the oldest person to go to space when he travelled on board a Blue Origin tourism flight. Companies run by Richard Branson and Elon Musk have also carried out space tourism flights.

Ms Di Pippo said there were a lot of positives to the progress being made in space exploration, and that it would allow people to look back on Earth and recognise its fragility.

“We have to work a lot in terms of the sustainability in space, but also on Earth. We have to try to work on issues related to climate and help the planet survive in the best way possible,” she said.

“We can really improve the quality of life for people on Earth, thanks to space. I believe that if we have more and more people experiencing what space means, it can also help in policy and decisionmaking processes towards supporting space.”

Science experiments could also become a routine part of space tourism flights.

Sirisha Bandla, an aeronautical engineer, took containers filled with plants with her when she flew on board a Virgin Galactic space tourism flight in July.

She used them to conduct an experiment over three stages of the 90-minute flight.

“Bandla will activate three plant-filled tubes to release a preservative at critical datacollection stages during the flight: at 1G [Earth gravity level] before the rocket boost, just before entering microgravity, and after the conclusion of microgravity,” Nasa said at the time.

Ms Di Pippo also believes space tourism can help inspire people to create more spin-off technology.

Space technology and research have been a huge benefit to life on Earth.

Since 1976, Nasa has recorded more than 2,000 space-related projects that have been commercialised and brought to the market, including invisible braces, water purification systems, ear thermometers and wireless headphones.

“The number of satellites that each of us is using every day is really huge,” Ms Di Pippo said.

“When we check the weather in the morning, access the Global Navigation Satellite Systems to move from point A to point B, develop smart agricultural procedures, do telemedicine or biodiversity, everything [involves] space.”