SC would pay to send residents to space under lawmaker’s proposal. Here’s how it would work

A South Carolina lawmaker wants to boldly send residents where only a handful have gone before.

State Rep. Neal Collins, R-Pickens, an outer space enthusiast, has proposed holding an annual spaceflight contest for South Carolina residents.

Winners would receive a trip to the cosmos, courtesy of Blue Origin, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company.

“A few companies have made it to where it’s possible for normal people to go to space, and I want to raise awareness of that,” Collins said. “Why not send one person a year to space and raise that awareness?”

Blue Origin, founded in 2000, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawmaker’s proposal, which he outlined in legislation filed earlier this month.

The company completed its first crewed space mission last year, and has since made five additional suborbital flights. Blue Origin’s passengers have been a mix of wealthy business executives, advocates for space exploration and celebrities, most notably Star Trek actor William Shatner and retired NFL defensive lineman Michael Strahan.

Under Collins’ plan, the state would convene a commission — the South Carolina Blue Origin Flight Lottery Commission — responsible for selecting space travelers.

The seven-member commission, composed of representatives from the aerospace industry, academia and government, would establish selection criteria and choose applicants best able to promote the program’s goal of encouraging careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Collins’ bill doesn’t explain how the flights would be financed, but he told The State he wants to pay for the program out of South Carolina’s general fund budget.

Blue Origin does not advertise the cost of flight tickets, but people are known to have paid millions for a seat on its rocket.

A 2018 report citing two anonymous Blue Origin employees pegged the company’s ticket prices at between $200,000 and $300,000, which is roughly what Collins said he expects the state would have to pay.

He’s hopeful, however, that South Carolina could secure a reduced rate if it enters into a partnership with Blue Origin, or one of its space tourism competitors, to promote commercial space travel.

“I think it would be an awesome collaboration with Blue Origin or SpaceX or whomever,” Collins said.

The Easley Republican said he hadn’t gauged his colleagues’ interest in the bill, which has been referred to the House’s budget-writing committee — of which he’s a new member — but it’s unlikely to be a priority for the Republican majority.

To date, five Palmetto State natives have traveled to space, according to a review of astronaut biographies on NASA’s website. They are Catherine Coleman and Frank Culbertson, both of Charleston; Charles Bolden, of Columbia; John Casper, of Greenville; and Ronald McNair, of Lake City.

McNair, the second African American to fly in space, was killed in the 1986 Challenger explosion. The McNair Aerospace Center at the University of South Carolina is named in his honor.

Astronaut Charlie Duke, who walked on the moon, was not born in South Carolina, but grew up in Lancaster and is an adopted native son.