The realm of Apollo "Astronaut-Gods" is finally opening to mortals 

Advances made by the rising spaceflight powers Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin to begin launching adventurers to the edge of space will transform not just the heavens but also Earth: national borders and space agencies will no longer dictate who can become an astronaut.

More than 500 would-be cosmonauts scattered across the planet have already reserved US$250,000 tickets aboard Virgin’s SpaceShipTwo, and 10 times that many entered a global auction to join Blue Origin’s first human flight in July 2021.

Like Greek gods, the founders of these outfits are gaining a superhuman glow by flying aboard flaming chariots that crisscross the skies. Their competing odysseys are being transmuted, by eager digital scribes, into fantastical myths about humankind’s possible futures.

This new-millennium space race featured Richard Branson’s gravity-defying Galactic flight, which was livestreamed planetwide. Jeff Bezos is set to soar even higher in his Blue spacecraft, in a match echoing the rocket tournaments of Cold War lore.

During the first battles to dominate the skies, Soviet and American astronauts – all military test pilots – climbed atop intercontinental ballistic missiles. The rockets’ nuclear warheads were replaced by bullet-shaped capsules, deployed in jousts resembling celestial war games.

The deification of these space-pilots began with Washington’s naming them after ancient gods – Apollo and Mercury. Branson and Bezos likely aspire to immortalize themselves inside this same pantheon. Yet Galactic’s demigod could edge open the temple’s gates – to mortals.

Astronomical prices for suborbital sojourns – US$28 million for the first Bezos/Blue jaunt - mean the new constellations of astronauts will likely include mostly billionaire techno-aristocrats. But Branson is also bestowing free tickets on flight-worshippers who are commoners.

This modern-day Prometheus will allow stargazing mortals to fly via a new sweepstakes, with the prizewinner slated to lift off in 2022. Branson says he aims to add a “Willy Wonka” element to Galactic’s mythology.

While perfecting StarShipTwo, Branson promised a free trek to just one close friend: Stephen Hawking. Before the physicist’s tragic passing, he hailed Branson’s quest “to make spaceflight a reality for those intrepid enough to venture beyond the boundaries of Earth’s atmosphere."

Hawking, a fervent crusader against nuclear weapons, said he hoped the cross-border clashes of centuries past would be replaced by a friendly world-spanning alliance to explore the cosmos: “We are entering a new space age and I hope this will help create a new unity.”