Other physical challenges are more difficult to address and also less acute. Humans in space suffer muscle and bone atrophy. Space travel requires exposure to increased levels of radiation, which can lead to surprising visual effects. “All of a sudden you will see this really intense, bright white … and then it will fade back out,” says Garriott de Cayeux. “That is basically you being damaged by radiation, it triggers the impression of light even though there is no light.”
His time in space required a year of difficult preparation, although physical fitness wasn’t a focus. “If you’re going on a space walk, you need to be in excellent physical condition, because an inflated space suit is hard to bend. But if you’re not, you just need to be healthy,” he says. Still, SpaceX’s tourism clients will likely be studied head to toe, undergoing a battery of medical tests they’ve probably never heard of before. “In my case, they found I was missing a vein on one lobe of my liver,” says Garriott de Cayeux. “On Earth that’s irrelevant, but in space it could have led to internal bleeding, which is why I ended up having surgery to remove that lobe.”
Yes, word of mouth will dissuade and reduce the market, but many will still find it worth it. and
“If you’re going on a space walk, you need to be in excellent physical condition, because an inflated space suit is hard to bend.”
Unless one opts instead for a mechanical counter pressure suit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_activity_suit#MIT_Bio-Suit
Probably orders of magnitude cheaper than the traditional “balloon suit” which cost millions of dollars each. NASA of course isn’t interested in so radical a concept but maybe Musk or Bigelow aren’t so reticent to think outside the box.
And yet Dennis Tito, whom I know fairly well, didn’t suffer any of this. Of course, he was in better physical condition than the two Russians who flew with him. In fact, he was in better physical condition than almost any Russian of his age at that time.
I remain very curious about what the actual demand for tourism will be. So much will depend upon what the options are…but will it be enough to really help drive costs down?
Anything that increases flight rate drives down costs.