This was touted as the maiden commercial space flight, potentially heralding the dawn of a new industry. But there’s a long way to go. All Richard Branson’s toy rocketship did was shoot straight up to 280,000, and glide back down. The entire “spaceflight” lasted a few minutes, didn’t go anywhere, and cost a fortune.
Be patient. Commercializing air travel didn’t happen overnight. After Kitty Hawk, aviation remained a novelty — and a military technology — for decades. Not until about fifty or sixty years later did airplanes become a practical means of travel for people of average means.
Today, jet-powered aluminum tubes carrying hundreds of passengers fly 500 mph at 30,000 feet. For a few hundred dollars per victim, these cattle cars whisk the unwashed and inebriated masses between cities in a few hours. You can argue this is a definite improvement over horseback or Model-Ts, although you have to overlook cramped legroom, baggage fees, and other inconveniences to travel this way. Given the parallel improvements in earthbound vehicles — padded and adjustable seats, air conditioning, electric windows and defrosters, etc. — I prefer to drive in most instances, even though this doesn’t eliminate the risk of being killed by inebriated fellow travelers.
A 4-minute flight to 280,000 feet that goes straight up, doesn’t stay there, and comes straight down is merely a tourist attraction for people who can afford the $250,000 tickets. (Yes, Branson’s space dabblings are a business venture; this guy doesn’t do anything just for fun.) It’s unlikely to stay that way; costs will come down, horizontal motion will be added to commercial spaceships’ repertoire, and accessibility will expand.
In other words, it eventually will become both useful and practical. Perhaps someday you’ll be able to travel from L.A. to New York in an hour, by looping through space, for 500 bucks. (A nuclear warhead can do it in 10 minutes, but its tolerance for G-forces, heat, and lack of oxygen is greater than yours.)
One thing that won’t change, though, is cabin fistfights over face masks. No matter how much technology evolves, human nature doesn’t. It stays the same.