>>Sour grapes? How many tourists did NASA accomodate? What's stopping NASA from doing the same thing, or from doing that 20 years ago?
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>I hardly think the space program should be distracted by rich tourists. Isn't it supposed to be about science?

Isn't it about business in the end? "No matter what they talk about, they talk about money". So why not, the couple of millions that tourists pay end up financing science.

And isn't giving tourists a ride showing that you don't really have to go through a pilot school first and few years of other training to go up there? Gives some hope and incentive to those who can't ever be pilots. It may cost a million today, but within a decade it may become affordable. Our children may be able to take a ride and see their home.