Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space plane has conducted the first of three key test flights that should enable it to enter commercial service. Sir Richard has some 600 paying customers waiting to take the same ride.
Blue Origin recently announced they are planning to conduct the first crewed flight with the New Shepard by July 20th. In addition to the Blue Origin astronaut crew, one seat is being set aside for a commercial passenger.
Last week, Virgin Galactic, the space tourism firm owned by Richard Branson, revealed its newest design, SpaceShip III, with the first vehicle in this line dubbed “VSS Imagine.”
Blue Origin says it is “very, very close” to flying humans on suborbital launches to the edge of space after a successful test flight of a human-capable rocket and capsule last Thursday.
We are now one step closer to space with a recent U.S. paper that describes a way to build an expandable space habitat of concentric cylinders that can house up to 8000 people.
Virgin Galactic already has its commercial operating licence but it has to work through a list of "verification and validation" milestones before it can welcome passengers aboard.
SpaceX will work with space tourism company Space Adventures to send up to four people into space onboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. The mission will send tourists to “twice the altitude of any prior civilian astronaut mission or space station visitor".
Virgin Galactic has reached another milestone in their fight test program. The flight took place on February 22nd and three people in the crew spent several weightless minutes aboard the spacecraft.
Unlike some previous test missions, Wednesday's New Shepard flight followed the same profile that space tourists will take. But The company has yet to begin selling tickets for the six-person capsule.
Elon Musk recently provided updates on the mini-Starship prototype that will making a test flight next year, including the fact that it will be built from a stainless steel alloy.
Virgin Orbit performed the first captive carry flight of its LauncherOne system Nov. 18. Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, said he expected the first orbital launch to take place in December or January.
In a tweet, SpaceX said it has signed a passenger to fly around the Moon aboard its next-generation launch system.
The Japanese startup PD Aerospace is developing a reusable space plane that will use a combination of jet engines and a rocket motor to take customers to space by as early as 2023.
Boeing will target the end of this year (or early 2019) for an uncrewed orbital flight test of its Starliner vehicle.
Virgin Galactic has been saying for some time that it will reach outer space this year, and on Thursday it came the closest it has ever gotten.
