One pays €25.90 to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Many will go up to admire the 1887 engineering of Gustave Eiffel, but for
most folk it is not about the technology, it is about the view.
And the view is to die for :-
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...0_Panorama.jpg
So the operators collect €25.90 and they run a business selling the the thrill
of an experience and a breathtaking view.
In a similar vain, now and then operators charter Qantas 747's to fly
paying sightseers over the edge of Antarctica.
Though I am the type of person that always marvels over the technology
of flying every time I fly, I suspect most don't.
I've been lucky to be on one of those Antarctica flights. They are not
cheap and they are indeed an indulgence and they definitely don't
extend the technology of flying in any way.
But the view is to die for.
And the operator I suspect makes a profit along the way.
The Virgin Galactic enterprise is the same. It's run as a business like
going up the Eiffel Tower or on a flight to see Antarctica.
And unlike the X-15, you can sit in shirt sleeves in a pressurised cabin.
I can only imagine, but I bet the view is to die for.