Tag: suborbital spaceflight
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Suborbital spacefliers will get pinned by the Association of Space Explorers
Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut trainer, Beth Moses, gets her suborbital spaceflier pin from Michael Lopez-Alegria of the Association of Space Explorers. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) WASHINGTON, D.C. — Will the customers who fly on the suborbital spaceships operated by British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin get astronaut…
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NASA picks 25 space technologies for testing by Blue Origin and other companies
Three of the vehicles to be used for testing space technologies are Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, Blue Origin’s New Shepard spaceship and Masten Space Systems’ lander vehicle. (Virgin Galactic / Blue Origin / Masten via NASA) NASA’s Flight Opportunities program has selected 25 promising space technologies for testing aboard aircraft, high-altitude balloons and suborbital…
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What’s next for commercial spaceflight? Passengers will soon get their turn
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, center, celebrates this week’s successful test flight of VSS Unity with test pilots Rick “CJ” Sturckow at left and Mark “Forger” Stucky at right. Branson says he’ll be Unity’s first commercial passenger. (Virgin Galactic / Quasar Media Photo) MOJAVE, Calif. — The first suborbital space passenger is less likely to…
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What’s next for commercial spaceflight? Passengers will soon get their turn
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, center, celebrates this week’s successful test flight of VSS Unity with test pilots Rick “CJ” Sturckow at left and Mark “Forger” Stucky at right. Branson says he’ll be Unity’s first commercial passenger. (Virgin Galactic / Quasar Media Photo) MOJAVE, Calif. — The first suborbital space passenger is less likely to…
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Blue Origin scores big in NASA’s latest batch of flight opportunities for space tech
Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster heads for a touchdown after a test flight in December. (Blue Origin Photo) NASA’s Flight Opportunities program has selected 15 promising space technologies for testing on suborbital flights, and almost half of them are set to fly on Blue Origin’s New Shepard spaceship. Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space venture, headquartered…
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Blue Origin’s job listings hint that it could soon be signing up astronauts
An artist’s conception shows a Blue Origin passenger looking out a window in the New Shepard crew capsule. (Blue Origin Illustration) Some of the nearly 200 job opportunities posted by Blue Origin suggest Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space venture is preparing to sign up passengers for its New Shepard suborbital spaceflights. One listing is looking…
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Virgin Galactic strikes a deal to send Italian scientist on suborbital space trip in 2019
Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity glides through a test flight. (Virgin Galactic Photo) News Brief: Virgin Galactic and the Italian Space Agency say they’ve signed a letter of intent to send an Italian payload specialist and scientific experiments on a suborbital space mission in 2019. The deal was announced today during the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference…
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Get a dummy’s-eye view of a suborbital ride on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin spaceship
An instrumented test dummy, nicknamed “Mannequin Skywalker,” sits next to one of the huge windows in the New Shepard crew capsule. (Blue Origin Photo) What will people experience when they rocket to the edge of space on the New Shepard suborbital spaceship that’s currently being tested by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin venture? An 11-minute video, recorded…
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Jeff Bezos plans to live-stream Blue Origin’s next suborbital spaceflight
Blue Origin’s New Shepard spaceship lifts off for a test in January. (Credit: Blue Origin) For his next trick, Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos plans to have his Blue Origin space venture send its New Shepard rocket ship into outer space and back with one bum parachute on Friday – and live-stream the whole thing. Allowing live video…
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Wow! Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin sends New Shepard rocket ship to space – and gets it back safely
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket ship rises from its West Texas launch pad on Monday. (Credit: Blue Origin) Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, successfully sent its New Shepard rocket ship to outer space for the first time on Monday – and even more amazingly, brought every piece back down to…