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SLOWLY but surely, space is opening up to people and groups who couldn’t access it before. As New Scientist went to press, Japanese firm ispace was set to launch a lunar lander called Hakuto-R, which – if all goes well – could be the first commercial craft to land on the moon (see page 12). It will carry with it two small rovers, one from the United Arab Emirates and another from the government-run Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, smashing the US, Soviet Union and Chinese hegemony of previous lunar landings.

At the same time, the European Space Agency has announced its newest class of astronauts, including the first ever astronaut with a physical disability, Paralympian John McFall.

These developments are part of ongoing efforts to diversify space. Historically, only a few major powers have been able to operate in space, and around 90 per cent of the astronauts they have chosen have been non-disabled men. Even the growth of private space flight has, so far, sent mostly wealthy white men beyond Earth.

Allowing space to remain the domain of a homogenous group of governments and billionaires harms us all. Smaller nations and companies going to space will spread the scientific wealth, allowing researchers from those places to make their own breakthroughs and raising the prospects for those young people trying to enter the space industry to carry out research. Astronauts with physical disabilities will force engineers to innovate in their designs, making space flight possible for everyone.

Down the road, a diverse slate of players in space will serve any permanent settlement well. It will make it difficult to create anything resembling a factory town or indentured servitude, as some would-be space barons have suggested, because there will be multiple employers. And it will bring a broader range of ideas to the table.

Space becoming more diverse is a good thing for everyone, and a signal that the industry is truly ready to take off.