Re: “Billionaire Richard Branson reaches space in his own ship” [July 11, Boeing & Aerospace]:
I’ve been reading the close race for tourism in space with a changed view. Years ago, when Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk set out to become the first billionaires to host commercial flights to the public, I felt a little excitement first stirred by John Kennedy in the race to the moon by the end of the 1960s.
But today, with obvious signs of global warming, this is just a ploy to entice the top 2% of the financially stable population, with free advertising from all the news reports, to get their spot on the next ride. Commercial aircraft are one of the world’s largest polluters. I have yet to read an article questioning the ethics behind such an enterprise.
Are the other 98% of us in the nation expected to applaud this new entrepreneur endeavor while the planet burns and freezes? I’m not.
John Thoe, Seattle