The meaning of maybe nothing

"With NASA taking a back bench, and the American billionaires leading the charge, the Chinese will have a new presence in space to deal with."

Yesterday, Jeff Bezos joined the billionaire's club of space junkies. He got into his Blue Horizon rocket, with his brother, the son of a Netherland's billionaire, and an 82 year old woman. Together, they blasted off, into the wild blue yonder. The Bezos crew went just a bit higher up in the atmosphere than Richard Branson did earlier in the month. The flight lasted for a whopping 11 minutes, and everybody returned safely. What was accomplished by this event? Maybe nothing. Or maybe something.

At the end of the 11 minute joy ride, Bezos got out of the capsule and managed to say and do three (stupid?) things. First, he thanked his Amazon customers, as well as his overworked labor force in his fulfillment centers, for allowing him to have the resources to go on this joyride. That fell flat with many. Secondly, to appease his left flank, which were pissed at him for squandering all that money on a 11 minute joy ride, he made an environmental statement. "Seeing Earth from up there, I realize how fragile our environment is. We need to protect it. So, we need to start doing all our manufacturing in outer space." Huh? What the what are you talking about Jeff?

Then he announced he was going to be giving $100 million dollar award every year to someone who really deserves it. Someone who can give it to the right causes in the areas of charity and non-profit. Before he awarded that amount of cash, I started to think of many people who could put that money to good use. Helping the least of us. Instead, Bezos gave it to the much maligned, Van Jones. An activist turned CNN contributor. What the what were you thinking about Jeff???

Is there anything good which came out of yesterday's launch? Maybe. One of the things which struck me, was none of the four passengers were flying the rocket. It was all AI and programing. Now that, was impressive. Here is the other thing. The same thing I thought after the Virgin Galactic launch. This is the first bit of evidence that NASA is going to be taking a back seat in the space race. The explanation mark of this suspicion, will be when Musk flies his spaceship to the Moon. And Musk is not interested in 11 minute joy rides to the upper atmosphere. His vision is bases on the Moon, Mars, the Asteroid Belt, and maybe beyond.

With China establishing a space station, they also have their sites set on the Moon and beyond. Now it will get interesting. With NASA taking a back bench, and the American billionaires leading the charge, the Chinese will have a new presence in space to deal with. Plus - seeing Branson and Bezos take this first step, might embolden other wealthy countries and companies to join to fray.

This is going to be fun to watch folks. That is, until something goes wrong. I like the fact the billionaires are pushing the envelope of space technology. I just hope they don't push it too far, too fast, and something bad happens.