Tag: space tourism
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Why SpaceX and Boeing can sell spots on commercial space taxis to private travelers
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams wears a SpaceX spacesuit as she sits in a mockup for a Crew Dragon spaceship. (SpaceX Photo) RENTON, Wash. — When NASA’s Phil McAlister worked out the contracts with SpaceX and Boeing to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, he made sure they could make some money on the…
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Axiom Space offers space station vacations starting in 2020, for $55 million
An artist’s conception shows a space traveler floating in zero gravity. (Axiom Space Illustration) How much would you pay for a 10-day stay in low Earth orbit? Houston-based Axiom Space has set a $55 million price point for trips that it says could begin as early as 2020. If you want to fly that soon,…
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How can you drink Champagne in zero-G? Winemaker builds a bottle to find out
A team sponsored by the Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar Project samples sparkling wine poured from a specially designed bottle aboard a zero-gravity airplane flight. (Maison Mumm Champagne via YouTube) Will future spacefliers be able to drink a bit of celebratory bubbly in zero gravity? Leave it to a French winemaker to find out, using some…
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Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo completes second powered test flight
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo fires its engine during Tuesday’s test flight. Credit: Virgin Galactic Helmed by two test pilots, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane set new altitude and speed records for the company’s test program Tuesday during a powered flight over California’s Mojave Desert. Tuesday’s test flight moved Virgin Galactic closer to eventually flying paying passengers…
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Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo fires up rocket for another step toward spaceflight
Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity space plane fires up its hybrid rocket motor during a test flight. (MarsScientific.com and Trumbull Studios) Virgin Galactic sent its VSS Unity space plane skyward for a second supersonic rocket-powered test flight today, bringing the company one step closer toward reaching the space frontier. “It was great to see our beautiful spaceship…
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Video: Blue Origin flies New Shepard rocket for eighth time
Video credit: Blue Origin Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster, topped with a capsule carrying a dummy dubbed Mannequin Skywalker, took off Sunday from the company’s sprawling test site in West Texas on a 10-minute trip to the edge of space and back. The hydrogen-fueled rocket lifted off from the test site near Van Horn, Texas,…
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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin venture sends its New Shepard spaceship to new heights
Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spaceship, dubbed RSS H.G. Wells, blasts off from its West Texas launch pad. (Blue Origin via YouTube) Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture notched another record today when it sent its New Shepard suborbital spaceship on its highest-ever round trip to space. It was the eighth uncrewed test…
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Suborbital test flight moves Blue Origin closer to launching people
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) with new apogee number. The New Shepard booster took off from West Texas at 12:06 p.m. CDT (1:07 p.m. EDT; 1707 GMT). Credit: Blue Origin The privately-developed New Shepard booster, designed and built by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin, took off from a launch…
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Blue Origin preps for suborbital test flight Sunday
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated April 29 with new launch times. Blue Origin plans its next suborbital test launch Sunday from the company’s sprawling development complex in West Texas, the company’s owner Jeff Bezos announced Friday. The single-stage New Shepard rocket is scheduled for launch at 12:42 p.m. EDT (1642 GMT; 11:42 a.m. CDT), after thunderstorms apparently…
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Photos: VSS Unity’s first powered test flight
These images captured by photographer Gene Blevins show Virgin Galactic’s second SpaceShipTwo space plane making its first rocket-powered test flight Thursday over California’s Mojave Desert, then gliding back to a runway landing. The SpaceShipTwo vehicle, named VSS Unity, dropping from the belly of a carrier jet at 9:01 a.m. PDT (12:01 p.m. EDT; 1601 GMT)…