(by 6 people)
Space tourism is a rapidly emerging industry. A multitude of companies are developing launch vehicles and private space ships. Rich philanthropists and investors, from Jeff Bezos to Richard Branson and Paul Allen, are pouring many millions of dollars into space ventures.
We are lucky to be living at a time when humankind may be taking its first serious steps into commercial space ventures, space tourism and, ultimately, even space colanization. In fact, the nascent private space industry today is in much the same place that the aviation industry was exactly 100 years ago. Look for amazing things to happen within the next decade.
Here is everything you need to know about the private space industry, the main players and the latest developments.
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Space Tourism News
- Blue Origin Vertical Take-Off Testing Video
- Jan 5 - The cat is out of the bag. A couple of days ago, Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' suborbital craft building venture, released a number of short video clips showing a vertical take-off and landing test of the craft that they are building. This is pretty cool. Take a look.
This clearly shows that Bezos is serious about this venture, and is further along than I thought. The test shows a craft taking off vertically to a height of a couple of hundred feet, hovering for a couple of seconds and then landing. We have real flight hardware people... now the question: can it make it to space... that's a little tougher... - Virgin Galactic - SpaceShipTwo Animation
- Sept 28 - This excellent animation illustrates how Virgin Galactic envisions the flights into suborbital space that it plans to launch starting in 2009. Very nifty.
- Elon Musk: SpaceX Rocket Plans Outlined
- August 17- Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX outlines the company's plans for a November / December target date for a second launch attempt (after the failed first attempt in March). Musk also provides information on the cause of the first launch failure.
Interesting interview with an interesting guy. I really hope the next attempt is successful. - Burt Rutan Interview
- August 16- This is an interview published in Space.com on Aug 11, Burt Rutan, CEO of Scaled Composites the famed manufacturer of SpaceShipOne. In the interview, Rutan shares some interesting information regarding his company's plans for SpaceShipTwo and beyond. This one is really interesting.
- Space Tourism... Post Mortum...
- July 24- The remains of actor James Doohan, who played the starship Enterprises chief engineer "Scotty" on "Star Trek," will be blasted into space in October... space tourism after death, but hey, as long as you get there...
- Bigelow Aerospace: Inside the spaceship factory
- July 23 - A detailed article about Bigelow Aerospace and their plans for orbital and even lunar space tourism.
- Walk in Space for $15 Million (Plus Airfare)
- July 21 - According to the NY Times, Space Adventures Ltd., the company that sent the first tourists to space, is about to start offering its clients an option to also purchase space walks... at a modest sum of $15M (on top of the $20M for the trip to space). Hey, as long as we're on vacation, might as well go for those nifty little extras.
- Virgin Galactic Aims to Fly Passengers by 2008
- July 19- Designer Philippe Starck, former soap star Victoria Principal and Superman Returns director Bryan Singer have booked their space flights on Virgin Galactic. The company says that it has collected over $15 million in ticket deposits from prospective space travellers...
Space tourism appears to be taking off... - Bigelow Aerospace Launches Prototype Inflatable Space Ship
- July 12 - Bigelow Aerospace today reported that it's prototype inflatable space ship has been successfully launched into its designated orbit. It further reports that the vehicle as expanded as planned, the solar panels are deplyed and the battery is fully charged. A first step to orbital tourism?
- Jeff Bezos' Spaceship Plans Revealed
- July 5 - This article from Space.com for the first time provides a glimpse into Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space ship development effort. In brief: Max. Altitude - 99,205 meters (just short of the internationally recognized boundary for space); powered landing (I don't really like that concept, personally); up to 52 launches per year with a planned space port in Texas. Commercial flight commencement no later than 2010.
X-Prize: Creating a Space Tourism Industry
Space tourism was nothing but a distant dream until the X-Prize Foundation, single handedly turned the dream into reality.On October 4, 2004, SpaceShipOne rocketed into history, becoming the first private manned spacecraft to exceed an altitude of 100 km twice in as many weeks, thus claiming the $10 million dollar Ansari X-Prize. The age of space tourism finally arrived.
That day was the end of a long and exciting journey that started in 1996 when Peter H. Diamandis first conceived of the idea for the X-Prize. Click here to read about the history of the X-Prize.
When it was all said and done, the 26 teams had entered the race for space, and although only one, Scaled Composites, emerged as the winner, many of the contestants planned to continue their journey to space. And thus, an industry is born.
SpaceShipOne: The X-Prize Winning Flight to Space
The title says it all. This is a short clip showing Scaled Composite's second and final X-Prize winning flight to space. Alas, there is no soundtrack.
SpaceShipOne: XPrize Flight #2
XPrize Flight #2 SpaceShipOne flight 17P max speed: Mach 3.09 altitude: 112.0 km duration: 23 min 56 s pilot: Brian Binnie Courtesy of X PRIZE Foundation Discovery Channel & Vulcan Productions, Inc. (no sound)
Private Launch Vehicle Companies
The future of space tourism starts with these companies.
- Scaled Composites
- Founded by avaiation pioneer Burt Rutan, Scaled Composites won the Anasari X-Prize with its ground breaking Spaceship One. Scaled Composites is also the only private company to have flown a launch vehicle into Space. Scaled Composites has entered into partnership with Virgin to launch a fleet of suborbital vehicles in a joint venture operation called Virgin Galactic. Click here to view a video of Spaceship One's historic, x-prize winning, second flight into space.
- Space Exploration
- Founded by PayPal founder, Elon Musk, SpaceX is taking the long route to space tourism. While its stated goal is to get humans into space for low cost, SpaceX is initially pursuing the low cost satellite launch market. SpaceX made its first launch attempt of its low cost Falcon rocket in March 2006. However, due to human error, the launch failed 25 seconds into the flight. SpaceX is a very serious company with several firm launch contracts signed. Many have great expectations for SpaceX. Click here to see a video of Falcon I's launch attempt.
- Armadillo Aerospace
- Found by John Carmack of video game fame, Armadillo is a small aerospace firm developing suborbital launch vehicles. The company has not yet attempted to launch a vehicle into space. To see a variety of videos showing Armadillo's hardware tests, click here.
- Blue Origin
- Founded by Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon.com, Blue Origin is reportedly working on building low cost, reusable suborbital launch vehicles. The company releases precious little information, and its website is very sparce. Here is what the company says about itself: "Our initial research efforts are focused on reusable liquid propulsion systems, low cost operations, life support, abort systems and human factors. We are currently working to develop a crewed, suborbital launch system that emphasizes safety and low cost of operations."
SpaceX: Failed Launch Attempt of Falcon I
SpaceX is ultimately planning to built orbital space craft capable of carrying humans. However, it is going about this by initially building low cost, reliable small payload launch vehicles.
The first launch attempt in March 2006, failed. However the company will try again. Here is a video of the failed launch attempt.
The first launch attempt in March 2006, failed. However the company will try again. Here is a video of the failed launch attempt.
SpaceX Falcon maiden launch
The last ten seconds of countdown followed by the 41 second flight, ending with impact in the Pacific. Note the thermal blanket flapping about 30-33 seconds into the video; it was supposed to come off at launch. Also, about 36 seconds in you can see a jet of flame shooting out of the side of the rocket just before it goes out of control
Space Tourism Companies
Real space tourism options open to the general public right now...
- Space Adventures
- The grand daddy of all space tourism companies, Space Adventures offers a range of space and near space tourism packages. Space Adventures is the company behind all three trips taken by private citizens to the International Space Station. If you have about $20M to spare, you may want to consider a week long trip to the ISS. If your investments are... somewhat less liquid, the company also offers more modest options, such as zero-G flights and high altitude flights in Russian fighter aircraft. Sweet.
- ZeroG
- OK, so it's not really space, but it's about as close as you can come: zeroG parabolic flights. The cost is pretty reasonable too... well, for something like that I mean... $3,500 for a full day experience including 15 parabolas in a specially modified plane.
- Bigelow Aerospace - Fly a Personal Item into Space
- Bigelow Aerospace is offering to fly a small personal item (picture, ring, medal) into space for you. It's a bargain too... only $295. The first launch is scheduled for fall of 2006. Interesting, but I am holding out for the real thing, personally.
- eSpaceTickets
- eSpaceTickets has a mission of opening space to the little guy. Currently they are organizing international contests the winner of which (if I understand this correctly) will fly to space.
Space Tourists
Three paying space tourists have flown so far. Each reportedly paid $20M for his flight, and all visited the International Space Station. Other tourists are reportedly lining up for their turn to fly... who will go next?
- Dennis Tito - First Space Tourist
- In April 2001, Dennis Tito became the first space tourist. Launched onboard a Russian capsule, Tito spent almost 8 days in space, most of that time on board the International Space Station. The pleasure reportedly cost him $20M... good for him.
- Mark Shuttleworth - Second Space Tourist
- Somebody's gotta be second, and in April 2002 Mark Shuttleworth (well fitting name, no?) became that second space tourist. Shuttleworth spent nearly 10 days in orbit, launching aboard a Russian Soyuz and spending most of his time in space on the ISS. $20M dollars later, he was back on Earth.
- Greg Olsen - Third Space Tourist
- In October 2005, Greg Olsen became the third space tourist, and the third non-government visitor to the International Space Station. He spent nearly 10 days in space, and he too parted with $20M in small unmarked bills to fullfil his dream of space flight.
Poll: Would You Pay to Go to Space?
These days it feels like everyone and their grandmother is building a launch vehicle and promising to take paying customers to space.
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Space Ports
- Space Ports Around the World
- This article from Space.com gives a detailed account of the various efforts around the world to build real life space ports.
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