Tag: space tourism
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Blue Origin resets schedule: First crew to space in 2019, first orbital launch in 2021
Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith shows a video of a BE-4 rocket engine firing during the Aerospace Futures Alliance Summit. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) LYNNWOOD, Wash. — Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, is now planning to send its first crew on a suborbital space trip during the first half…
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SpaceX’s round-the-moon trip could have VR, ‘Space Bar’ and in-flight entertainment
An artist’s conception shows a violinist performing in zero-G during a voyage in SpaceX’s BFR spaceship. (SpaceX via Twitter) It’s been only a day since SpaceX CEO Elon Musk unveiled the plan to send Yusaku Maezawa and roughly half a dozen artists around the moon, but folks are already nominating themselves (and others) for a…
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Japan’s Yusaku Maezawa revealed as first customer for SpaceX trip around the moon
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk strike a pose at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. (Yusaku Maezawa via Twitter) SpaceX CEO Elon Musk today introduced Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa as the first paying customer for a trip around the moon. “Finally I can tell you that ‘I choose to go to the…
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Space Adventures is back in vogue – and aiming to go beyond orbital tourism
Space Adventures facilitated two trips to the International Space Station for Seattle billionaire Charles Simonyi, in 2007 and 2009. (NASA Photo via Space Adventures) More than 17 years after Space Adventures put its first millionaire client in orbit, and nearly nine years after getting its last one launched, the company is raising its profile in…
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Virgin Galactic’s rocket plane climbs closer to space
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, built to eventually carry commercial passengers to the edge of space, accomplished another powered test flight into the rarefied upper atmosphere Thursday with two pilots on-board. The two-man team in the cockpit helmed the SpaceShipTwo vehicle, dubbed VSS Unity, as it dropped from the belly of a jet-powered carrier aircraft…
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SpaceShipTwo rocket plane pushes the envelope in third supersonic test flight
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, VSS Unity, fires up its hybrid rocket motor during a supersonic test flight. (MarsScientific.com and Trumbull Studios via Virgin Galactic) Virgin Galactic sent its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, VSS Unity, to its highest-ever altitude today during its third powered test flight — setting the stage for a full-powered push across the boundary…
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Blue Origin performs high-altitude test of crew escape motor
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) after the test flight. Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard booster launched Wednesday on an uncrewed test flight, sending a capsule on a brief jaunt into space over West Texas to demonstrate a key safety feature for space tourists and scientists riding on the company’s future rockets. Blue…
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Blue Origin counts down to high-altitude escape test of New Shepard spaceship
Blue Origin is preparing its New Shepard suborbital spaceship for a test flight that’s expected to push the envelope. (Blue Origin Photo) Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, says it’ll push its New Shepard suborbital spaceship “to its limits” during its ninth flight test. The test is set to take…
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$200,000 for a trip to space? Blue Origin says price hasn’t been seriously discussed
An artist’s conception shows a passenger looking out the window of Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spaceship. (Blue Origin Illustration) Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space venture, Blue Origin, is playing down reports that a suborbital space trip on its New Shepard rocket ship could cost $200,000 to $300,000. “We have not set ticket pricing and…
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Virgin Galactic signs onto a deal to bring spaceflights to future spaceport in Italy
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, known as VSS Unity, is hooked onto its WhiteKnightTwo carrier airplane at Mojave Air and Space Port in California. (Virgin Galactic Photo) Virgin Galactic and a pair of Italian companies today signed a framework agreement aimed at bringing Virgin Galactic’s launch system to a future spaceport in the heel of…