Space tourism, and the unspoken US victory in space

Hmmm lets see, US government to cover the base cost for $4 million dollar
seats to space... yes the average tax paying american will be thrilled with
that. Subsidize a fat cats thrill ride.... joe average will not be riding at
$4 million a throwm thats for sure. Even if you bump the price a bit so you
can subsidize and occasional poet, teacher, little old lady from pasadena, I
don't think that would do it. Perhaps cheap lottery tickets for sale to get
a seat that would allow joe and jane average a shot may be more egalitarian,
and easier to sell to politicos (and tax payers).

However you still have the issue that room on the shuttle is usually
contracted months/ years in advance. What science experiment you gonna bump
to give a ride to a regular joe?

Will it be one extra shuttle mission per year? Two? What are you going to do
with these folks? Just a few orbits around earth? I doubt that Holiday Inn
or "Hilton" ala 2001 movie will invest in a module to add to the SSI to
house these "tourist". So, if your just going up for a look-see, why not put
the money into one of the other private vehicles in development instead.
THAT would be helpful in promoting Space access rather than cutting into
the pie of the Space Shuttle. Create some thing new, don't crowd whats
already there.

Regardless of how safe we think the shuttle is, it still has a pretty
graffic failure akin to the Hindenburg. Although I thought the space shuttle
was up to a 120-some missions, the one "oops" is too close for many peoples
comfort. Its not like riding a comercial airliner yet in safety record, as
the poor teachers family can attest to. A new clean slate vehicle would
probably have a better image as well, perhaps one without as many
complicated parts as the space shuttle.

Wether the ruso shuttle could have been a success or not is a complicated
question dealing with all kinds of economics / political issues. It appears
that the cash poor ruskies judge operations in a different light than we do.
Defacto they are the ones that had a space pressence with MIR for years, and
the ones that (although seemingly in contrast to their communism roots) are
promoting Space access to the rich and famous :-) flying in the face of the
"private space club " mentality that NASA apparently had.