Give Me That Old Time Space Religion

Rich Goodwin of the National Space Society make the point that "Space advocacy is like a religion in that you have to have faith, either in the overarching goal of settling the solar system and maybe one day the stars, or in how that next Reaction Control System will have an ignition system that doesn’t use a single point criticality method for lighting the fuel and oxidizer. Everything is discussed with passion and conviction."

Like religions, there are splits and divisions as people seek the True Path. Some believe that commercialization of space is the only way; others that the solar system should only be subjected to scientific exploration. There are even arguments about such minor matters as the term "space tourist".

One thing almost all of us in the space community agree on is that space is the future of the human species. It’s important that we the converted and faithful, the “chosen people” spread our gospel to the unbelievers and the space infidels who comprise most of humanity. In order to do this we have to speak to them not from up on high from the temple walls in languages they do not comprehend, but in phrases and terms that they do understand. The infidels understand the word Tourist. It means somebody who is a traveler visiting new places on their own dime and hopefully having fun doing it. They get that. They know it costs a lot, but they get it. Trying to once again obfuscate the lexicon because we find the term “tourist” demeaning is counter productive to our cause. In private space churches if you want to call them Citizen-Space-Flyer-Explorernauts then do so, but don’t try to tell Joe & Jane Public that, because they’ll switch channels on you as fast as you can say “new reality show.”