Axios' "How it Happened: The Next Astronauts" podcast follows the first all-civilian space crew as they prepare for their historic mission.
Private missions to orbit like the all-civilian Inspiration4 launching later this month are opening access to space to people who historically haven't gone there.
Why it matters: Fewer than 600 people have flown to space, and most of them have been white men. But with the rise of commercial spaceflight that's expected to change.
- Instead of spaceflight being governed by the stringent health and physical requirements NASA and other space agencies use to select their astronauts, private companies have more freedom to allow different types of people to fly.
What's happening: Two crewmembers flying to space with Inspiration4 on September 15 represent groups of people who have historically been marginalized when it came to spaceflight.
- Sian Proctor is set to become the first Black female to serve as the pilot of a space capsule. Mae Jemison — the first African-American female astronaut to go to space — didn't fly until 1992.
- When Hayley Arceneaux — a childhood cancer survivor — takes flight she will become the first person with a prosthesis to travel to space.
- "I couldn't have been a traditional NASA astronaut," Arceneaux told me. "Astronauts have really had to be physically perfect."
Between the lines: Private spaceflight became Proctor's only route to living out her life-long dream of going to space.
- She made it to the final round of NASA astronaut selection for the agency's 2009 class, but she wasn't chosen.
- "It's here. This is what I've been waiting for — [what] I've been training for," Proctor told me. "There are all of the signs of my life coming together."
Yes, but: While private spaceflight is opening the door to space for many more people, it's possible one gatekeeper is being traded for another.
- Instead of governments deciding who gets to go to space, companies and billionaires who have contracts with them could make those decisions in the future.
- "Space is still accessible only by a few people, and only a few people with a lot of privilege and power get to be the gatekeepers of who gets to go," astronomer Lucianne Walkowicz told me in March.
What to watch: Problems on Earth risk being perpetuated in space, including racism, ableism and other forms of discrimination.
- Just like government agencies, companies will need to guard against that in order to truly make space equitable for all.
- And it's not there yet. While governments and companies have taken steps toward diverse representation, it's still an issue and one that could grow as more companies start launching private missions to space.
Go deeper: Listen to the new season of Axios' How it Happened: The Next Astronauts here.
- A mission to space like no other (Axios)
