What Richard Branson and his critics both get wrong about equal access to space

From my point of view, the ability to see and study the sky isn’t a luxury, but a fundamental part of what liberation looks like. As a species, we evolved under the night sky. Every single community has studied the stars and developed cosmologies: origin stories that explain not just our universe, but also ourselves. In turn, the stars help us find our way here on the ground; heroes such as Harriet Tubman are believed to have used constellations to navigate their journeys to freedom. To look at the sky and wonder is a fundamentally human activity. It is part of who we are.