CGTN Europe spoke to Dr. Annette Toivenen, Space Tourism Exprt
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00Dr. Annette Toivonen is a space tourism expert.
00:05China is definitely taking big leaps at the moment.
00:10So they are really almost very on the tail of United States.
00:14They have been doing a lot of new space activity in the recent years
00:18and being very successful as well. It's like 100% success rate.
00:22And also from the tourism perspective, I think a couple of years time
00:27they also plan to establish commercial space tourism as part of their new space program.
00:33Well, let's talk about the idea of space tourism.
00:36It's something that China wants to fast track, but perhaps we know it better
00:40as being something the United States does.
00:42Do you think that China will end up trying to overtake them?
00:47China is definitely taking a different kind of angle to presenting their space tourism.
00:54A good example is now the Wengchang Space Center, which is almost like a Hawaii-style resort
01:02that has a lot of space touristic kind of companies and lounge-related activities.
01:09So it's a really kind of touristy destination that they are kind of building it to be.
01:14Versus now when, for example, last week we saw this all-female crew going to space with a blue origin.
01:22And there was a big debate, like, can they be called astronauts or such?
01:26Because it looks like Americans want to have it more kind of in the scientific and professional way.
01:31And China is taking more kind of like a tourism approach.
01:35Space tourism, though, is really just one element of what you might call the lunar economy, isn't it?
01:41And China wants to make the most of it in different ways, doesn't it?
01:44When do you think we might start to see some kind of economic returns from that?
01:48Well, it's still a long way to go.
01:50It depends on the technological advantages, how quickly and safely they can actually establish some kind of infrastructure to space.
01:59Now, at the moment, they do have this kind of small space station that only has three modules.
02:06So it could be possible maybe that they could be adding some touristic kind of tourism purposes modules to their space station in some years time.
02:16So that would be certainly something that international spaces have never had.
02:21And how important is it for ethical positioning for countries and companies trying to take a lead in space tourism?
02:31Of course, you have this very elite, assumeable status, because it costs a lot to go to space.
02:38It's about 400,000 euros now for the tickets that are available.
02:43So, of course, especially when we think of China, and that is something that tourism is something you could actually individually gain status among your peers.
02:54So that could be something that really motivates Chinese tourists to do space tourism.
03:00Maybe in Western countries could be more of your kind of, you know, personal bravery or some kind of scientific status gaining.
03:10So there are also different kind of motivations already being seen in different countries.
03:16But, uh, yes, we have to see what happens.
03:26Yeah.