Jeff Bezos flies high in space while people are struggling to make ends meet.

By Addison Hannah

As the beginning of a new era dawns, we watch as billionaires launch rockets into space. But who gets to embark on this journey, and why?

When Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and America’s richest man, took his first Blue Origin space trip in July 2021, he brought his brother Mark Bezos and two other passengers. One of them, Wally Funk, became the oldest person in space travel at age 82, and the other, Oliver Daemen, became the youngest at age 18. A few days earlier, British tycoon Richard Branson flew high along with his crew on his first Virgin Galactic space flight.

Both flights lasted about 10 to 15 minutes long. Which raises the question: What did they do up there? When in space, Bezos and passengers reportedly threw Skittles candy into each other's mouths. While some deemed this behavior as funny, others criticized it on social media, saying it’s ignorant of the current state of the world. Many have struggled to make ends meet and support their families amid the coronavirus pandemic. Over half of adults with credit card debt, estimated at 51 million people, have increased their debt since March of 2020, creditcards.com reports.

Yet the space travelers see this is an exhilarating time for the Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic rocket passengers. After decades of research, they finally have reached their dreams, and people could travel in space without years of training.

A new journey is upon us, and some of the richest people in America are already buying tickets for space travel. For example, Forbes reports that SpaceX founder Elon Musk bought a ticket for a future Virgin Galactic space flight.

Whether they’re billionaires or researchers who could take these flights, some think the more space travel, the better. Joel Getchius, a senior engineer at NASA, says “getting more scientific discoveries is a wonderful thing.”

However, who has to give for this to happen? According to Amazon workers we spoke with, who wanted to remain anonymous for job security reasons, paychecks have been cut at times by up to 30%. For people who rely on their wages for all their bills and taxes, this was a major reduction. Questions have been raised about Amazon allegedly cutting employee paychecks to help Bezos pay for his space travels.

Bezos himself thanked his employees and customers for funding the trip. "I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this," Bezos said during a press conference after the flight. "Seriously, for every Amazon customer out there and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart very much. It's very appreciated."

Workers we spoke with say they’re worried that Bezos’ “field trips” to space will cause more money problems in the future.

So what does the future have in store for us? With billionaires promoting space tourism, will this lead to an era of research or social divide?