What are the advantages and disadvantages of space tourism?

What a fun question! The limitless boundaries
of space hold both mystery and innate intrigue, and there are so many incredible
possibilities.

The advantages of space tourism center around discovering more
about the unknown reaches of our universe. The thought of being able to personally navigate
areas that few people have been able to ever see is the same quest that has driven the
exploration of this planet for thousands of years. Humans have a desire to
discover more about unknown places and to solve mysteries.

Space tourism
could also satisfy these desires for a certain (wealthy) segment of the population. There is
certainly an economic impact that would work to the advantage of companies working to supply the
needed modes of transportation, so people with aerospace or computer engineering degrees would
benefit from more career options. Universities with those programs would likely see an upswing
in interested students.

Opening up privatization of space travel also allows
for growth without governmental interference; currently NASA is funded only as the government
allows, so when politicians steer toward a leaner economy, space funding is often one of the
budget items to receive a cut. However, private funding would allow for the travel and
exploration to continue regardless of whether any politician sees the benefit of it or not. If
companies have the money, they are free to move forward with their own plans.

There are disadvantages, and many of those center around the risk to humans. Space is
unpredictable, and the technologies needed to reach some of the goals on the horizon haven't
even been fully developed yet.

There are health risks to humans in space that
we already know about (radiation, risk of being hit by meteors, cosmic rays), and long term
weightlessness has its risks, too. "Space tourism" also opens up a vast field of
possibilities, from simply going up and experiencing five minutes of weightlessness and then
returning to Earthto going on a one-way trip to Mars for which a return is currently impossible.
Where will it stop? Will people sign up for one-way trips to Jupiter, which would take
approximately 6 years to reach?

NASA sent Voyager 1 and 2 to examine the far
reaches of our solar system in the 1970s, and they estimate that around 2012 it entered
interstellar space beyond Neptune, meaning it took around 40 years to make that journey one-way.
It is worth recognizing, therefore, that the distances in space are incredible, and we currently
don't have the technology to make those journeys happen quickly.

Another
argument against space tourism is that it currently isn't very eco-friendlyfor Earth or
elsewhere. Opponents of the idea often cite evidence that we haven't done a great job in taking
care of our own planet and maybe shouldn't be trusted to take those same poor values to other
areas of space. The most conservative rockets in development for space tourism require around
100,000 gallons of fuel, most of which comes from non-renewable resources. So as more of those
resources are being diverted to fund the desires of the wealthy in space tourism, that could
mean that the rest of us will feel the economic impact of having less supplyand therefore higher
prices.

There are many great questions which could be answered via further
space travel and tourism opportunities, and technologies used to accomplish space exploration
are changing quickly. This is a fascinating area of scientific development to
consider.