Google's Brin Books a Space Flight

coondoggie writes "Google largely conquered the Earth — now it is taking aim at space. At least co-founder Sergei Brin is. Brin today said he put down $5 million toward a flight to the International Space Station in 2011. Brin's space travel will be brokered by Space Adventures, the space outfit that sent billionaire software developer Charles Simonyi to the station in 2007. Computer game developer (and son of a former NASA astronaut) Richard Garriott is currently planning a mission to the ISS in October 2008. Garriott is paying at least $30 million to launch toward the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz spaceship according to Space Adventures." Make sure to wave when you are over Michigan, man. I'll be the one on my lawn, green with envy.

give him more than that

Make sure to wave when you are over Michigan man. I'll be the one on my lawn green with envy.

I hope you'll be wearing at least a bright red shirt or something, because otherwise you're going to blend right in.

In Michigan?

In Soviet Russia bright red will blend you man.

Rather too risky for me

While this may sound like a nice adventure, going into space, if I had a billion, its the last thing I would ever want to do, because it is so risky. There are a million things that can go wrong, space flight has a high rate of occurance of accidents, when you are in orbit, as well, there is not much anyone on ground can do to help you when you get into trouble. So certainly, it is a huge gamble, and not one I would be comfortable with.

Re:Rather too risky for me

Good thing space exploration isn't in your hands, then.

Re:Rather too risky for me

And that is one reason you do not have a billion.

Re:Rather too risky for me

Living is about what you experience. Everyone's risk-to-experience tolerance is different. Some people only feel alive and free when they sky dive, while others think it's a silly risk. Some people have full and happy lives doing nothing more than playing scrabble. Space travel is a huge risk for an amazing experience that only a handful of humans have. You could die, but the dead don't feel regret for failing to take a chance on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

one step closer

Google is now just one step closer to founding the Copernicus Center [google.com],... ;-)

Green Space Adventures

Kinda offsets driving a Prius, doesn't it?

How do we calculate MPG?

How do we calculate MPG? Sure, it's a shitload of fuel just to go 213 miles up (*), but then you can coast for ~3 million miles!

Re:

In that case, he'll have a negative carbon footprint.
Goodbye Tesla.
Hello Lamborghini!

Re:

I never really understood the purpose of "buying carbon offsets". To me, it's just a total advertising gimmick. I mean, people aren't actually changing their behaviors and lifestyle choices to live a more environmentally-friendly life. It's basically just a way to say, "Fine! Go ahead and keep polluting the earth and destroying the ozone! But as long as you give lots of money to , it's all ok!"

Re:

Suppose that the cash goes toward planting trees, research, efficiency upgrades -- something like that. Then it might make sense. But cutting out the middle man might make a lot more sense. I suppose it depends on how much you trust your carbon offset broker.

Personally, I've yet to hear a compelling case as to why (and to whom) I should be making this sort of donation.

Re:Green Space Adventures

It's just outsourcing your environmental concerns :)

A lot of energy and CO2 for one guy's amusement

It would be great if he would spend at least a comparable amount of money to plant trees or something else to help the environment for the amount of CO2 and other pollution he's going to cause to be put into the atmosphere.

I guess he has the right to pollute all he wants, but launching yourself into orbit dwarfs the effect on the environmental most people would ever cause. People get the value of protecting the Earth from viewing it from space. Usually that perspective ends up happening afterward. I hope Brin gets it beforehand.

"...From up there, it looks finite and it looks fragile and it really looks like just a tiny little place on which we live in a vast expanse of space. It gave me the feeling of really wanting us all to take care of the Earth. I got more of a sense of Earth as home, a place where we live. And of course you want to take care of your home. You want it clean. You want it safe."
-- Winston Scott, two-time shuttle astronaut

"You change because you see your life differently than when you live on the surface everyday. ... We are so involved in our own little lives and our own little concerns and problems. I don't think the average person realizes the global environment that we really live in. I certainly am more aware of how fragile our Earth is, and, frankly, I think that I care more about our Earth because of the experiences I've had traveling in space."
-- Eileen Collins, first female space shuttle commander.

I'm sure he has friends who read Slashdot. If you are one of them, could you ask him to think and do something about how his actions will affect the rest of us?

Re:A lot of energy and CO2 for one guy's amusement

Alternately, we could stop giving in to global warming hysteria and recognize that there are carbon producing activities more important than eliminating positive carbon emissions. Space tourism, for example, easily meets this weak threshhold. Yes, sending rich guys on joy rides in space is more important than token gestures of support for environmentalism.

Risky business.

I'm jealous and also quite in awe of how brave people are to venture into space. Some sobering stats on manned space flight: 18 of the 430 people who've ventured into space didn't make it back alive. Of course, quite a few astronauts and cosmonauts have flown more than once, but I calculate that the shuttle's overall fatality rate is running at around 1.8%. IOW, the chance of dying is about the same as my chance of winning $10 in this week's 6/49 Lotto. I hope he has a fantastic trip and that he blogs about his experience.

Would I be willing to venture into space if given the chance? I'm not sure. I'd love to have the opportunity to consider it, though.

Re:Risky business.

Most interesting in that line of statistics: no human has died outside the confines of Earth's atmosphere. Apollo 1 was a fire on the pad, Challenger hadn't crossed 50 miles, and Columbia was under 50 miles. The Russian space program has similar circumstances. 18 didn't walk out of the craft alive, but all 420 who have crossed into space have made it back inside the atmosphere.

$5 Million Is Just The Beginning, Though

Since the cost of fuel has gone up, NASA has started adding surcharges on everything.

For instance, now you get only one carry-on bag free of charge. Any extra bags cost $100,000 apiece.

You no longer get free beverage service on the shuttle. Soft Drinks are $3,000 each, beer and wine $5,000 and mixed drinks are $10,000.

If you want an in-flight magazine, that'll be an extra $4,000.

Pretty soon, only the really wealthy or business customers will be flying to the ISS, at these prices.

Re:What a waste.

I'm sure someone will reply with a "relative" comment regarding money I and others who are less fiscally successful spend on things like MMOG's and flat panels, but on a person-by-person basis that's a very small chunk compared to the giant barrel of money he's giving away here.

Yes, this usually is the nail in the coffin for this sort of argument. Why should you expect someone else to donate any extra cash they happen to have when you aren't willing to? It does strike me as odd that you go ahead with the argument even though you already know why it's flawed.

Re:What a waste.

You're acting like the Russians are just going to take his dollars and burn them in a furnace, or that somehow those dollars are going to be taken out of circulation, never to be used for anything ever again.

Realize that his $30 million is going to be spent by the Russians; on the development of new technology, on fuel (and hence, on employees of the energy companies), on paying engineers and scientists; on all the things required to maintain a space program.

If you want to support an industry - and most people on slashdot probably believe the space industry is one worth supporting - the best thing you can do is to buy their product. That's exactly what he's doing.

Re:What a waste.

According to google.org [google.org] Google has donated $33 milion from AdSense adverts to more than 850 nonprofit organisations in 10 countries throught the world.

The Make-A-Wish [wish.org] foundation has received more than 25% of all the online donations from Google.

Google has given more than 30% of all the yearly donations to the Doctors without borders program.

Google has also donated to the Grameen Foundation [grameenfoundation.org] located in the US and $2 mils to the OLPC [mit.edu] project...

Read more here [blogspot.com]

Re:What a waste.

I'm sure someone will reply with a "relative" comment regarding money I and others who are less fiscally successful spend on things like MMOG's and flat panels, but on a person-by-person basis that's a very small chunk compared to the giant barrel of money he's giving away here.

Here's your "relative" comment.

Sergey Brin's net worth is reported at $18.7 billion dollars. That $30 million ticket is 0.16% of his net worth.

If you have a $200K net worth, e.g. investments, home equity, etc..., that space flight ticket is the equivalent of you buying a PS3.

Re:

Simony went up on a Soyuz. We're not talking about the same thing with Brin. If things go as planned he'll get there via a privately owned and operated flight. It will still be a Soyuz but it won't be owned and operated by any government agency. Hence it's the first private spaceflight.

Re:Now THAT is a vacation - I for one am jealous

It'll be flown by a Russian commander, out of the Russian launch complex in Balkinour.

Call it whatever makes you feel warm and fuzzy, but it's a Russian rocket, piloted by a Russian commander, launched out of a Russian spaceport. I guarantee you communications are run through Korolev. Space Adventures purchased a flight, not the flight hardware. This is not privatized space travel. Look to small companies in the southeast US - SpaceX, XCOR, Armadillo, Blue Origin if you want to see "private spaceflight"

Re:Now THAT is a vacation - I for one am jealous

I could give a shit either way. Do you know how many people you could HELP with $5 million, like real bonified food on the table for dinner kind of help?

It's not like the money just vanishes into thin air, you know. Sergei gives it to someone else, who ends up giving it to someone else, who gives it to someone else, who gives it to someone else... and so the economy rolls on. You could argue that spending the money does a lot more good for society than just leaving it in the bank.

BTW, why are you sitting there reading Slashdot when you could be volunteering at your local homeless shelter?