Space fascinates me.

I'm not a big Star Trek fan, but the narration over the top of every show is true. Space truly is the final frontier.

If you have wanderlust and a sense of adventure and exploration, space is a virtual endless canvas on which to paint.

That's why I was rooting so hard for the latest SpaceX launch.

From the moment it took off to the moment the tiny capsule splashed back into the ocean waters off the coast of Florida on Saturday night, I was thrilled and envious. After all, this particular three-day adventure aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule was flown entirely by tourists.

Imagine - not a single astronaut was part of the four-person team that circled the earth for three days. Unbelievable. And there was no stop at the International Space Station, either. This was true flight, from liftoff to landing.

For those of us who followed the Space Shuttle program for so many years, this is both exhilarating and scary at the same time. We all remember what happened with Challenger in 1986 and Columbia 17 years later in 2003. They were tragedies that played out on national television, heartbreaking moments for all Americans.

And certainly, if you are a fan of space and space travel, we all know the trials and tribulations that billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson have gone through in trying to get their respective space tourism rockets off the ground.

Maybe that's why I root a little harder, having seen the difficulties first-hand, feeling that excited anticipation when the countdown goes to 3-2-1 and becoming crestfallen as some of these ships barely cleared the tower before exploding.

But I remain fascinated by people's quest to explore the uncharted, to achieve that "Holy cow!" moment. Even back on land, it still boggles my mind that in this day and age of having the ability - and, for some, the means - to travel and to reach any place, and to have sophisticated, high-tech equipment, that we are still uncovering artifacts from thousands of years ago.

And don't get me started about the possibility of staying in the hotel that is expected to be built by 2027.

SpaceX hopes this all-tourist trip, which hovered about 350 miles above the Earth - 100 miles further than the Space Station - will be the first of many. I won't lie and tell you it's not expensive. It is. Even the so-called team leader of this tourist trip was a millionaire.

But if you love to travel, like, really travel, it would be worth every penny.

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