Tag: Virgin Galactic
-
This Week In Spaceflight: SpaceX’s Raptor breaks records, NASA announces second Artemis Lander
Reviewing the week in spaceflight and upcoming events, it’s been another busy period, including NASA announcing a second lunar lander for Artemis, SpaceX’s Raptor breaking records, and Stratolaunch drop testing Talon-A. Stratolaunch Drops Talon Stratolaunch has finally conducted a drop test of their Talon-A vehicle. Stratolaunch has been working on developing its reusable hypersonic testbed,…
-
Virgin Galactic announces deal with Boeing subsidiary to build next-gen motherships
An artist’s conception shows a Virgin Galactic mothership in flight. (Virgin Galactic Illustration) Virgin Galactic says it will partner with Aurora Flight Sciences, a Virginia-based Boeing subsidiary, to design and build next-generation motherships for its suborbital rocket planes. The motherships will serve as flying launch pads for Virgin Galactic’s next-gen, Delta-class spacecraft, just as a…
-
Year in Space: Jeff Bezos and his billionaire rivals finally usher in the age of commercial spaceflight
Jeff Bezos uncorks the bubbly after riding Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spaceship. (Blue Origin Photo) For 25 years, I’ve been recapping the top stories about space and looking forward to next year’s trends on the final frontier — and for most of that time, the dawn of the era of commercial spaceflight has been…
-
Bezos vs. Branson vs. Musk: A reality check on the billionaire space race — and space station sci-fi
Blue Origin suborbital spaceflier Mark Bezos throws a ball to Oliver Daemen in zero-G while Wally Funk floats above in the New Shepard capsule. (Blue Origin Photo) The state of commercial space travel is changing so quickly that even science-fiction authors are struggling to keep up. That’s what Time magazine’s editor at large, Jeffrey Kluger, found…
-
Who’s an astronaut? FAA weighs in on a murky issue for suborbital space travelers
Jeff Bezos gets a custom-designed Blue Origin astronaut pin from former NASA astronaut Jeff Ashby, who now serves as Blue Origin’s chief of mission assurance. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) Hundreds of deep-pocketed tourists are likely to take suborbital space trips as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture, as well as the Virgin Galactic venture…
-
With Blue Origin passengers set, suborbital tourism arrives after decades of work
After years of development, suborbital space tourism looks ready to lift off after Virgin Galactic successfully launched its first fully-crewed suborbital mission to space on July 11 following several prior crewed suborbital tests. The Unity 22 mission came just days before Blue Origin is scheduled to make its first passenger suborbital mission no earlier than Tuesday,…
-
With Blue Origin passengers set, suborbital tourism arrives after decades of work
After years of development, suborbital space tourism looks ready to lift off after Virgin Galactic successfully launched its first fully-crewed suborbital mission to space on July 11 following several prior crewed suborbital tests. The Unity 22 mission came just days before Blue Origin is scheduled to make its first passenger suborbital mission no earlier than Tuesday,…
-
A tale of two spaceships: How Seattle tech titans helped launch suborbital space tours
Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity and its mothership (left) are modeled after the SpaceShipOne launch system (right) that was built with Seattle billionaire Paul Allen’s backing. (Photos by Virgin Galactic and Michael Pereckas) The suborbital spaceships built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceline may look totally different, but financially…
-
Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson takes suborbital space trip, stealing the spotlight from Jeff Bezos
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, VSS Unity, fires up its hybrid rocket motor to head spaceward. (Virgin Galactic via YouTube) Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson rode his company’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane into the skies over New Mexico today and did something that no billionaire has done before. In the company of five crewmates, Branson became…
-
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin fuels feud with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic over suborbital space trips
How serious could the suborbital space race between Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos get? (GeekWire Photos) Jeff Bezos has a longstanding rivalry with SpaceX’s Elon Musk, but now his Blue Origin space venture is upping the ante in its spat with fellow soon-to-be space traveler Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic — and the Twitterverse is not…