Tag: Virgin Galactic
-
Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson plans July spaceflight to upstage Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin trip
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson says he’ll be Astronaut 001 on the July flight. (Virgin Galactic Photo) The billionaire space race is on: Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson is on the crew for the next test flight of the company’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, which is scheduled to cross the 50-mile space frontier as early as…
-
Virgin Galactic downplays rumblings about a suborbital Branson vs. Bezos space race
How serious could the suborbital space race between Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos get? (GeekWire Photos) Would Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson try to steal a march on Blue Origin (and Amazon) founder Jeff Bezos when it comes down to which billionaire flies first on their own suborbital spaceship? There’s been some buzz about that…
-
Virgin Galactic successfully makes first human spaceflight from New Mexico
Virgin Galactic has successfully performed the first human spaceflight from Spaceport America, just south of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, today, using the VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo spacecraft. The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft VMS Eve climbed to an altitude of 44,000 feet before releasing VSS Unity for a rocket-powered flight to space. Flight restrictions in the airspace…
-
Preparing for “Earth to Earth” space travel and a competition with supersonic airliners
Commercial spaceflight companies are preparing to enter a new market: suborbital flights from one place to another on Earth. Aiming for fast transportation for passengers and cargo, these systems are being developed by a combination of established companies, such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, and new ones like Astra. Technical and business challenges lie ahead…
-
VSS Unity aborts after engine start, safely lands with crew back at Spaceport America
Virgin Galactic was to perform their first human spaceflight of their VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo vehicle from Spaceport America, just south of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, today. The spaceship and crew took off at 10:24 EST (15:24 UTC) firmly attached to their WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft from the runway at Spaceport America. The combined aircraft climbed…
-
Virgin Galactic offers a peek inside SpaceShipTwo in VR, making its case in the space tourism race
A computer rendering shows the seat configuration for the SpaceShipTwo passenger cabin, looking toward a mirror wall at the back of the cabin. (Virgin Galactic Illustration) More than a decade after Virgin Galactic unveiled a swoopy, spacey look for the passenger cabin of its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, the company took the wraps off a more…
-
NASA lays out a plan to qualify suborbital spacecraft for its astronauts and scientists
Blue Origin employees test procedures for getting spacefliers into the New Shepard suborbital spaceship at the company’s launch facility in West Texas. (Blue Origin via YouTube) NASA says it’ll formulate a plan to assess the safety of suborbital spacecraft — such as Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket ship or Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane —…
-
Virgin Galactic and NASA make a deal on services for private orbital astronauts
Seattle software billionaire Charles Simonyi took two privately funded trips to the International Space Station, in 2007 and 2009, with a Russian Soyuz spacecraft serving as his transport. (NASA photo) Virgin Galactic says it has signed an agreement with NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas to develop a new readiness program for private-sector astronauts heading…
-
NASA gets set to put astronauts on Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic suborbital flights
Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut trainer, Beth Moses, exults over the view out the window of the company’s VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo rocket plane during a suborbital spaceflight in February 2019. (Virgin Galactic Photo) NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine signaled today that astronauts would soon be cleared to take suborbital spaceflights aboard the commercial rocket ships being tested…
-
A boon for Boeing? Virgin Galactic strikes deal with NASA to work on supersonic rocket travel
Virgin Galactic says it’s signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA to collaborate on the development of supersonic vehicles for civil applications — a technology that’s of interest to Boeing, one of Virgin Galactic’s recent investors. The agreement also involves The Spaceship Company, a Virgin Galactic subsidiary that manufactures the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane and its…