Commercial Space Travel

Although a small number of extremely wealthy space tourists have paid millions of dollars for orbital spaceflight, by their very nature only a handful of people can take part in these spaceflights each year. It looks like Virgin Galactic will start commercial spaceflights aimed a larger audience soon. According to the Virgin Galactic Website Galactic… Continue reading Commercial Space Travel

Congratulations Blue Origin!

A week is certainly a long time in crewed spaceflight! Following Richard Branson’s trip to “the edge of space” on Sunday 11 July,  Jeff Bezos went one step further on July 20.  He made a short journey to space, in the first crewed flight of his Blue Origin rocket ship, New Shepard.  As the spacecraft… Continue reading Congratulations Blue Origin!

Congratulations Virgin Galactic

Great news from Virgin Galactic on Sunday. Although according to the widely used definition, their spacecraft didn’t quite get into space. Most international authorities define that space begins at an altitude of 100 km (the Karman line), whereas VSS  Unity reached an altitude of 86 km, but a fantastic achievement nevertheless !!. For those who… Continue reading Congratulations Virgin Galactic

Human spaceflight in 2021

2021 will be an interesting year for human space flight. Not only is it the sixtieth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic first manned spaceflight, but it will be the first time that a privately operated spacecraft will arrive at the International Space Station (ISS).  This private spacecraft is not just a one-off but will be… Continue reading Human spaceflight in 2021

First American crewed spaceflight since 2011

On May 27, SpaceX's Dragon 2 capsule will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket  sending NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station. The lift-off will mark the return of orbital human spaceflight from the USA for the first time since the Space Shuttle retired in 2011. To mark this event… Continue reading First American crewed spaceflight since 2011