Inspiration4 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 15.

Billionaires Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson are receiving attention: the United Nations is not satisfied with their recent journey to the edge of space.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appeared to call on the CEOs of Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic in a speech to world leaders this month.

Although Guterres did not name a specific name, he accused the "billionaires" of "among the millions of hungry people on earth, they are enjoying space." He said that their actions are spreading a "disease" of "distrust".

It is not difficult to figure out who he is humiliating.

On July 11 last year, Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, and five others flew to the edge of space in a VSS Unity space plane. About an hour later, it slid safely back to the launch site at the US Spaceport in New Mexico. .

Nine days later, in western Texas, Bezos and three crew took off during the first manned launch of his commercial space adventure Blue Origin. Ten minutes later, his spacecraft parachuted back to Earth safely.

Read more: Cheer me up, Scotty! William Shatner's space journey

Guterres’ comments highlighted some thorny questions: Is space tourism nothing more than expensive rides that do no good to those in need?

Do these billionaire boys with space toys reveal some kind of moral depravity caused by the widening gap between the "rich" and the "poor"?

Or, does the new space race provide long-term, redeemable social value?

Should the expanding commercial aerospace industry take social responsibility for the hundreds of billions of dollars used to develop and launch new rockets and spacecraft?

The answers may be difficult to quantify, but of course they will be different, depending on who you are asking.

If you ask the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, he will say go. "If people want to do this and pay $250,000, I have no problem," Tyson quipped on his StarTalk Facebook page. "Open up a brand new tourism industry! No problem."

But Tyson questioned whether Branson has officially entered the space defined by international organizations.

He pointed out that Branson flew about 50 miles, which the U.S. Air Force considered space, but was about 12 miles from the internationally recognized border.

What about the UN leaders accusing these people of "joy" and "millions of people starving"? Is it fair? Is space tourism an immoral activity because it does not help feed the hungry?

Harlan Ond, a senior economist at the World Bank, said in a blog post by the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington, “If space tourism achieves life-changing technological advancements, it can gain a foothold.”

Before you answer for yourself, remember that the space program usually has an excellent track record when it comes to technological innovation that helps mankind. Examples include:

Another: provide the Internet worldwide. The Starlink low-orbit satellites of Google and SpaceX transmit the Internet to countless previously inaccessible isolated communities.

Many of these innovations have improved the lives of disadvantaged groups and people in developing countries. But whether space tourism itself will directly lead to life-changing innovations like these remains to be seen.

How about space travel spurring innovative ideas?

A study released by NASA last year used inspiration as a direct by-product of space travel.

It cited a 2009 survey that stated that 50% of internationally renowned scientists who published papers in the prestigious scientific journal Nature in the past three years believed that the Apollo mission to the moon inspired them to become scientists.

If you missed it, earlier this month, SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission — piloted by civilians — inspired donors to donate more than $200 million to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Online criticism of space flight is extremely intense. The fact that billionaire SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk (yet) defended it on Twitter in March last year was really acrimonious. "Those who attack space may not realize that space represents the hope of so many people."

Those who attack space may not realize that space represents the hope of so many people

Let us not forget that there is ample evidence that the aerospace industry has created jobs and taxes.

According to a report in the Dallas Business Journal, SpaceX continues to develop its Boca Chica launch site in southern Texas, and the economic benefits of the facility are estimated to exceed $52 million per year.

In California, the economic prospects of Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County, where the Vandenberg Space Force base is located, also look bright.

According to a study by the California Institute of Technology, the facility created approximately 16,000 local jobs. The study predicts that this number may double within 10 years as SpaceX, the United Launch Alliance and other companies anticipate commercial space flights.

NASA created a total economic output value of US$64.3 billion nationwide in 2019. According to the space agency, this provided 312,000 jobs for the United States and generated approximately $7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes. Some of the money is used to pay the salaries of police and firefighters, as well as to build and maintain public roads and bridges.

But what can society do to make space tourism more directly benefit the hungry and poor people of the world?

In a blog post from the Brookings Institution, Onder stated that the social benefits of space tourism may not "exceed the elite space traveler club." Therefore, he said, "it is likely to require public push."

Onder told FLYING that innovations from space missions will not fight global poverty unless they can be distributed to developing countries and used for practical purposes.

In some cases, the most advanced technology will help the most people, he said, citing the development of solar panels and the extent to which they help people in developing countries get electricity.

He recommends limiting intellectual property protection-especially if taxpayers' money is involved.

"There are many examples in the medical field, and intellectual property protection is not necessarily a good thing," Onder told FLYING. "But what is the optimal level? There are many people who can do this kind of calculation very proficiently."

Onder also said that technology-focused assistance to developing countries may be part of an international assistance program.

He said that space technology may one day help mankind solve some of the most basic challenges.

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