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Posted on: July 13, 2018 at 15:07
By Agence France-Presse
The two leading companies in the pursuit of space tourism say a few months of their first passenger flights out of this world – even if no date has been set.
Virgin Galactic, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, and Blue Origin, by Amazon creator Jeff Bezos, are running to be the first to complete their trials – with both companies using a radically different technology.
The Virgin Galactic VSS Unity, seen at of a test flight on the Mojave Desert in California on May 29, 2018 (AFP / MANILA BULLETIN)
Moments of Weightlessness
Neither passengers of Virgin nor of Blue Origin will only be in orbit around the Earth; their weightless experience will be just a few minutes away. This is a very different offer from the first space tourists, who paid tens of millions of dollars to get to the International Space Station (ISS) in the 2000s.
Having paid a much cheaper ticket with Virgin, unknown with Blue Origin – the new tour of space tourists will be propelled tens of miles into the atmosphere, before descending to Earth. By comparison, the ISS is orbiting 400 miles (400 miles) from our planet
The goal is to approach or cross the imaginary line marking the beginning of space – either the Karman line, 100 kilometers or 62 miles, or the 50-mile limit recognized by the US Air Force.
At this altitude, the sky seems dark and the curvature of the earth can be seen clearly.
Virgin Galactic
With Virgin Galactic, six passengers and two pilots are embarked on SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity, which looks like a private jet.
The VSS Unity will be attached to a carrier spacecraft – the WhiteKnightTwo – from where it will then detach itself to approximately 49,000 feet (15,000 meters). Once released, the spacecraft will launch its rocket and head for the sky
Then, passengers will float in weightlessness for several minutes, before returning to Earth.
The descent is slowed down by a system of "feathers" that sees the spacecraft skew at its tail, as if bowed, before returning to normal and gliding to land at Virgin's "spaceport" in the desert. New Mexico.
In total, the mission lasts between 90 minutes and two hours. At a May 29 test in the Mojave Desert in California, the spacecraft reached an altitude of 21 miles, heading for space.
In October 2014, the Virgin spacecraft collapsed in flight due to a piloting error. . The tests then resumed with a new gear
The company also entered into an agreement for the opening of a second "spaceport" at the Taranto-Grottaglie Airport in the south of the country.
Branson in May told BBC Radio 4 that he was hoping to be one of the first passengers in the next 12 months. About 650 people make up the rest of the waiting list, Virgin told AFP
Blue Origin
Blue Origin, meanwhile, has developed a more sophisticated system. close to the traditional rocket: the New Shepard. 19659005] During this trip, six passengers take place in a "capsule" attached to the top of a rocket 60 feet long. After the launch, it detaches and continues its trajectory several kilometers to the sky. During a test on April 29, the capsule made it 66 miles.
After a few minutes of weightlessness during which passengers can see through the large windows, the capsule gradually drops back to the ground with three large parachutes and retrofuers
From take-off to landing, the flight Lasted 10 minutes during the last test
Up to now, tests have been conducted only with the help of mannequins at the West Origin, Texas site.
of its directors, Rob Meyerson, said in June that the first human tests would come "soon".
Meanwhile, another company official, Yu Matsutomi, said at a conference on Wednesday that the first tests with passengers would take place. SpaceX and Boeing are developing their own capsules to transport NASA's astronauts, likely in 2020, after delays – a major investment that the NASA will probably offset by offering private passenger flights.
"If you're looking to go to space, you'll have quadrupled the menu of options you've never had before," Phil Larson, assistant Dean at the University. Colorado, Boulder's College of Engineering and Applied Science, told AFP
In the longer term, the Russian firm that manufactures Soyuz rockets is studying the possibility of bringing tourists back to the United States. ; ISS. And an American start-up called Orion Span announced earlier this year that she hoped to place a luxury space hotel into orbit in a few years – but the project is still in its infancy
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