Private Spaceflight celebrates its 20th anniversary.

One look at the back.

Let us start by saying that nothing good can be done easily. We are celebrating the 20th birthday of Dennis Tito's space flight. He made history by becoming the first fee-paying private citizen to launch into space. But the road he took to make, was a challenging one.

Two decades ago, in April 2001, you asked yourself the question. Maybe some of you who read this aren't born. The September 11 attacks against the United States had yet to happen. The iPod was months away from the launch, but Wikipedia had just come online. Barry Bonds is warming up for his steroid laceration. George W. Bush was only in the third month of his presidency and Vladimir Putin just came into office.

Chance of a Lifetime

It was in this world that the 60-year-old former engineer JPL Dennis Tito was allowed to realize his lifelong dream. Dennis had a long tradition of space exploration. Eric Anderson had another dream, too. Like Dennis, he wanted to venture into space. Unfortunately, poor eyesight prevented Eric from making the dream come true. But Eric had rethought space exploration and concluded that it shouldn't just be for the old Right Stuff fighter pilots.

Shortly after graduating from university, Eric co-founded Space Adventures with a few like-minded people. Their mission was to open up the space boundary to everyone. This happened in 1998. Eric thought that the first clients of Space Adventures would launch into space on suborbital flights. He didn't expect to launch a tourist into low orbit, but this is what happened.

Challenges to each step.

Even with the support of the Russian Space Agency, including members of its crew, the way to launch Dennis Tito into space would prove very difficult. Thankfully, Dennis is a very dedicated person. With all the challenges Eric and Dennis have faced together, they have not wavered.

This mission was to be avant-garde – the first time a self-financed civilian had to travel into space. Dennis was going to visit the new International Space Station, which was still being built. When Eric first approached the Russians with the idea of flying a nonprofessional into space, they said nobody would pay the price to fly. Eric told them he had an existing client. Roscosmos officials were amazed.

We should not forget that nobody knew the value of space flights. There were no published market surveys. SpaceShipOne was years away from flying and SpaceX has not even been found. Commercial space flights, to say nothing of space tourism, were in the ether. But it was a window of opportunity, a chance to achieve something that wasn't possible. And Eric just set a $20 million ticket to launch into outer space. This mission would create a brand new market if Dennis and Eric could jump through enough hoops to make their way to the launch pad.

The Russians developed the medical and training guidelines that Dennis would need to follow to be certified for a Soyuz launch. A month before Dennis's planned launch, he and his Russian crew traveled to NASA's Johnson Space Center for training on the United States. section of the space station.

Threatening security or political?

However, NASA refused to train Dennis. At that time, NASA thought that civilians would pose a threat to security in orbit. And that Dennis did not receive adequate training for the flight, not to mention his responsibility to be there. Even though unprofessional astronauts had embarked upon space in the United States. Space Shuttle (eg. former Senator Bill Nelson), NASA opposed the idea that the Russians would take a tourist into space just because he was wealthy enough to pay for it.

The simple fact was that the Russian space agency was open for business, their mindset was open for training an older person, someone who was not a career astronaut. They were ready to write medical and training protocols for a nonprofessional. NASA knew that age was not a factor in space flights because they had flown with John Glenn at age 77, three years earlier.

NASA continued to lobby for Dennis not to fly because the station was not a place for a non-professional. But three days before the launch, NASA and its partners gave up and provided Dennis with an exemption to visit the space station.

History Made

He stole, had an amazing experience, and entered the history books as the first private citizen paying a ticket into space! And since Dennis's historical flight, six other individuals have flown to the space station. All of them are paying their share. They are all passionate about understanding their roles and responsibilities. They helped show that you don't need the ‘right things' to live in space. Dennis set the stage. We thank him for his patience, his determination, and the dream he never let die, whatever pressure he was under with Eric.

Seven private citizens launching to orbit in 20 years may not seem like a lot, but the impact Dennis and his fellow non-professional astronauts have had on the future trajectory of human spaceflight is extraordinary. Ten years ago NASA started the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program, predicated on the notion that private companies could develop new spacecraft to supply NASA and the ISS partners with flights, but also to private customers. From this program came the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule which has since been acquired for private flights into space. In 2019, NASA established a commercial use policy and sanctioned and approved a private mission to the ISS. They complete their turn at 180 degrees from their position on Dennis's flight.

We are still awaiting a suborbital space flight, but the future looks bright for orbital space flight possibilities. And the whole thing started with Dennis Tito. He never wavered, nor did we.

Original Publication on Space Adventures.