{"id":18228,"date":"2018-12-15T01:21:41","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T17:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/whats-next-for-commercial-spaceflight-passengers-will-soon-get-their-turn-2\/"},"modified":"2018-12-15T01:21:41","modified_gmt":"2018-12-14T17:21:41","slug":"whats-next-for-commercial-spaceflight-passengers-will-soon-get-their-turn-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/whats-next-for-commercial-spaceflight-passengers-will-soon-get-their-turn-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s next for commercial spaceflight? Passengers will soon get their turn"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_468305\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-468305\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-468305\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/RichardBransonandAstronauts-630x420.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/RichardBransonandAstronauts-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/RichardBransonandAstronauts-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/RichardBransonandAstronauts-1260x840.jpg 1260w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-468305\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, center, celebrates this week\u2019s successful test flight of VSS Unity with test pilots Rick \u201cCJ\u201d Sturckow at left and Mark \u201cForger\u201d Stucky at right. Branson says he\u2019ll be Unity\u2019s first commercial passenger. (Virgin Galactic \/ Quasar Media Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>MOJAVE, Calif. \u2014 The first suborbital space passenger is less likely to be a billionaire like Virgin Galactic\u2019s Richard Branson or Blue Origin\u2019s Jeff Bezos, and more likely to be an as-yet-unnamed employee at one of their companies.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s despite Branson\u2019s promise, reiterated in the wake of Thursday\u2019s successful test flight past the 50-mile altitude mark, that he\u2019d be the first commercial passenger on Virgin Galactic\u2019s VSS Unity within the next few months.<\/p>\n<p>The word \u201cpassenger\u201d is key: We\u2019re not talking about the people who are actually flying the spacecraft, such as the two test pilots who were at Unity\u2019s controls this week. Rather, we\u2019re talking about folks who will be seated in Virgin Galactic\u2019s Unity rocket plane, behind the pilots, or in Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard crew capsule.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuborbital\u201d is key as well: There have already been a good number of passengers on orbital spacecraft, going back to the days of Russia\u2019s Mir space station in the 1990s. Seven people have paid their own way for trips to the International Space Station, with the official status of spaceflight participants. Looking ahead, passengers may get their chance to purchase seats on SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon or Boeing\u2019s Starliner space capsule.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"\ud83d\ude80Virgin Galactic sends its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane to 50-mile space milestone\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/k_Yk8_mqzrM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>When it comes to Branson\u2019s status in particular, \u201ccommercial\u201d is the key word. The British-born billionaire plans to take a seat on the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane once operations have shifted to Spaceport America in New Mexico, where more than 600 paying customers hope to follow in his trail at a cost of as much as $250,000.<\/p>\n<p>However, Virgin Galactic\u2019s development timeline calls for putting its own staff members in Unity\u2019s seats before Branson, during the latter stages of the flight test program at California\u2019s Mojave Air and Space Port.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to fine-tuning Unity\u2019s flight systems, those test flights will check how the seats work, especially during the minutes-long stint of weightlessness at the top of the ride, Virgin Galactic CEO George T. Whitesides told reporters here in Mojave, just hours after Unity\u2019s 51.4-mile-high outing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been flying the passenger seats in the last couple of flights, but in static mode,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo, over the next few flights, we will start to fly them in dynamic mode&nbsp;\u2014 because, as you may know, we move the seats back and forth during the flight. Then we\u2019ll start putting people, staff, in the back to test out our operational procedures with the passengers. \u2026 Once we\u2019ve gotten through that, we could start thinking about commercial flight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when Branson would fly, Whitesides said. (It should be noted, however, that as Virgin Galactic\u2019s owner, Branson has the prerogative to move up his reservation.)<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1073461961088585728&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2018%2Fwhats-next-commercial-spaceflight-passengers-will-soon-get-turn%2F&amp;sessionId=178f04af4ff13ea23f63a46e738fc08fb2006dca&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1073461961088585728\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782802039281602907=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We&#8217;re taking you to space, @richardbranson  \ud83d\ude80 \ud83c\udf0e pic.twitter.com\/BKSjzutqRL<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) December 14, 2018<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin, the Kent, Wash.-based company founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, has sketched out a similar path to passenger service. Its New Shepard suborbital spacecraft, consisting of a booster stage and a crew capsule, has gone through nine uncrewed flight tests in West Texas \u2014 most recently in July.<\/p>\n<p>The latest word is that the six-passenger New Shepard will start flying people in the first half of 2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was hopeful it would happen in 2018,\u201d Bezos said in October at the Wired Summit in San Francisco. \u201cI keep telling the team it\u2019s not a race. I want this to be the safest space vehicle in the history of space vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Blue Origin hasn\u2019t yet started taking reservations, nor has it named its price for suborbital spaceflights targeting altitudes beyond 100 kilometers (62 miles). The first crewed flights, operated under autonomous control, are slated to carry Blue Origin employees rather than paying passengers.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Millions of People Living and Working in Space\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KMdpdmJshFU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019d be a stretch to call any of those employees \u201ctest pilots\u201d in the traditional sense, because New Shepard is designed to be controlled autonomously. However, Blue Origin does have former NASA astronauts on its staff, including Jeff Ashby and Nick Patrick, and they\u2019d be natural candidates to take the first rides.<\/p>\n<p>Bezos has said the doors would be open to paying customers only after the conclusion of the test program.<\/p>\n<p>Will Bezos follow Branson as a passenger in his own space vehicle? That\u2019s the plan, although he\u2019s not saying how soon he\u2019ll fly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll go up in New Shepard for the suborbital mission,\u201d Bezos told me during a Colorado space conference in 2016. \u201cThen I\u2019ll go into space in our orbital vehicle as well at some point. I want to go into space, but I want to do it in Blue Origin vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, center, celebrates this week\u2019s successful test flight of VSS Unity with test pilots Rick \u201cCJ\u201d Sturckow at left and Mark \u201cForger\u201d Stucky at right. Branson says he\u2019ll be Unity\u2019s first commercial passenger. (Virgin Galactic \/ Quasar Media Photo) MOJAVE, Calif. \u2014 The first suborbital space passenger is less likely to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[509,291,1046,1693,493,4402,492],"class_list":["post-18228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blue-origin","tag-commercial-space","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-richard-branson","tag-space-tourism","tag-suborbital-spaceflight","tag-virgin-galactic"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}