The first tourist in space, a woman from Britain
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The first tourist in space was not Dennis Tito, but this woman from Britain.
Please consider donating to Behind the Black, by giving either a one-time contribution or a regular subscription, as outlined in the tip jar to the right or below. Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
The first tourist in space was not Dennis Tito, but this woman from Britain.
Oh come on, Bob. In no other context would someone be called a tourist who had to beat out 18000 applicants according to training and background and then compete with 3 other finalists for a year and half to be finally selected. Sharman was one of the handful of civilian non-professional astronauts to go to space before Tito. There was also the Japanese journalist Toyohiro Akiyama, Garn and Nelson, and the civilian payload specialists.
A tourist “selects” him or herself to go somewhere and then makes it happen with his or her own resources. That happened first for space with Tito’s flight and was what made it so significant. Other tourists then “selected” themselves to follow him. It was impossible for anyone to select themselves to go to space if they had to get there the way Sharman did.
Bob published this conclusion after several sessions of waterboarding.