Tag: Travel
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A taste of space on Earth: Astronaut training startup raises $4M to market way-out experiences
Brienna Rommes, Orbite’s chief astronaut trainer, guides participants in the Astronaut Orientation program through a presentation on spaceflight. (Photo Courtesy of Magali Maricot) Seattle-based Orbite says that it’s completed a $4 million funding round and sealed a strategic deal with Accor, one of the world’s leading hospitality companies, to advance its plans for offering space-oriented…
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Three options for seeing the solar eclipse, from expensive to iffy to absolutely free
Skywatchers gather at Seattle’s Gas Works Park to watch the progress of 2017’s solar eclipse. (GeekWire Photo) After a seven-year gap, a total solar eclipse is once again due to make a coast-to-coast run across North America, boosting popular interest (and airfares) to astronomical proportions. The track of totality for the April 8 eclipse doesn’t…
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Orbite begins the launch countdown for its commercial astronaut training programs
Participants in an astronaut orientation session float during a zero-G flight in France in 2021. (Orbite Photo) After getting its start in Seattle and testing its business model in France and Florida, a space travel venture called Orbite is ready to start signing up customers for private-sector astronaut training programs. And although it’ll be a…
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Try before you fly: Orbite sets schedule for luxurious astronaut orientation sessions
Orbite’s director of astronaut training, Brienna Rommes, enjoys a zero-G airplane flight. (Orbite Photo) Wanna take a ride to space? There’s a smorgasbord of spaceflight shaping up for paying customers, ranging from the suborbital tours planned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to the orbital trips offered by SpaceX. What will those rides be…