Tag: Virgin Galactic
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After leading NASA’s mission to Pluto, Alan Stern flies to space himself
It has been fun to watch Virgin Galactic string together six flights to suborbital space this year. The company was founded by Richard Branson in 2004 to open the experience of spaceflight to everyday people and make some money in the process. Virgin Galactic hasn’t achieved those goals yet, but the company has reason to…
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Commercial space companies say cut red tape or U.S. will lose its lead in spaceflight
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifts off from West Texas on Thursday. Credit: Blue Origin The three companies who have flown people to space and back, Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, joined two experts at a Congressional hearing to press for regulatory improvements, warning the U.S. risks losing its lead in spaceflight. The 1.5-hour-long…
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Commercial space companies say cut red tape or U.S. will lose its lead in spaceflight
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifts off from West Texas on Thursday. Credit: Blue Origin The three companies who have flown people to space and back, Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, joined two experts at a Congressional hearing to press for regulatory improvements, warning the U.S. risks losing its lead in spaceflight. The 1.5-hour-long…
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Industry united in push to extend ban on human spaceflight regulations
There are three US companies now capable of flying people into space—SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic—and representatives from those three companies told lawmakers on Wednesday that the industry is not yet mature enough for a new set of federal safety regulations for their customers. A nearly 20-year moratorium on federal regulations regarding the safety…
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Rocket Report: European rockets finally fly; Artemis II core stage issues
Welcome to Edition 6.15 of the Rocket Report! We’re now more than three-quarters of the way through the year, and as of Thursday, there have been 156 orbital launches since January 1. Last year, which set a record for global launch activity, we didn’t reach 156 orbital launches until mid-November. At the cadence set so…
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Launch Roundup: Project Kuiper Protoflight and Galactic 04 highlight this week
United Launch Alliance (ULA) flew only its second Atlas V of 2023, as Amazon’s subsidiary Kuiper Systems LLC is finally placed its first Kuiper demonstration satellites into orbit. This week also featured a launch from China, three Falcon 9 Starlink launches, a Virgin Galactic suborbital tourist flight, and one of the final flights for the…
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Virgin Galactic’s president explains how VSS Unity is now flying frequently
On Monday, Virgin Galactic announced that it will conduct its next commercial spaceflight, Galactic 03, as early as September 8. This will be the company’s third commercial spaceflight, and it will carry three as-yet-unnamed passengers who bought their tickets on the company’s space plane back in the early 2000s. Should the flight occur in early…
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Rocket Report: Russian rocket lands like an airplane; SpaceX steamroller rolls
Welcome to Edition 6.07 of the Rocket Report! I spent a few days last week in southern New Mexico, visiting Spaceport America and Virgin Galactic’s facilities there. I felt a renewed sense of optimism about the company’s future among the people there and pride in reaching a more operational cadence of missions. Here’s hoping they…
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Virgin Galactic just flew again, but is the company going anywhere?
SPACEPORT AMERICA, New Mexico—I’m standing on a spaceport runway at the ass end of nowhere. The sun has started to creep over the craggy San Andreas Mountains, illuminating the massive, alien spaceship-like building here in New Mexico that Virgin Galactic calls home. I have traveled all this way in early August to find a little…
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It’s finally time—Virgin Galactic is flying private astronauts into space
SPACEPORT AMERICA, New Mexico—On Thursday morning, Virgin Galactic plans to fly private citizens into space for the first time. The company’s VSS Unity spacecraft is due to be released from its carrier aircraft after 9 am local time (15:00 UTC), and it will then rocket above an altitude of 80 km. The vehicle will carry…