But mini-hardships such as this are crucial for assessing what is perhaps the most important factor in traveling to space: mental fortitude. "You need to make sure that the people on the vehicle are ... serious, confident, positive, and will work to address situations that come up," says Garriott de Cayeux. "Every person has a psychologist assigned to them, from Day 1 until launch, to make sure they'll be a safe crew member."
Despite the discomforts and hardship of space travel, Garriott de Cayeux, now 55, says his trip to space was worth every penny. His father, Owen Garriott, was an astronaut. He grew up learning and thinking about space and felt his life change when he looked at the planet from inside the International Space Station. "There's something called the Overview Effect," he says. "Up there you really realize, 'Yeah, of course we are polluting the Earth. Of course CO2 is a problem. Of course particulate matter is a problem. How could you possibly doubt it when we can see it so self evidently?'"
While Garriott de Cayeux got to observe the Earth, SpaceX's voyagers will see both Earth and the Moon up close. "For them, the Earth will slowly recede into the distance to become much like the moon," he says. "That is a whole other level of awe that no one has experienced in over 50 years."
This story was provided by Bloomberg News.