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The two companies that lead the pack in the pursuit of space tourism say that they are a few months away from their first passenger flights out of this world – but no one has set a specific date.
Virgin Galactic founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, and Blue Origin by Amazon creator Jeff Bezos, prepare to be the first to complete their tests – both companies using a radically different technology.
19659004] Neither Virgin nor Blue Origin passengers will be in orbit around Earth: their weightless experience will only last a few minutes. 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, still 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
Origin Blue New Shepard
The goal is to approach or to pass 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 looks 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 that looks like a private jet.
The VSS unit will be attached to a carrier spacecraft – the WhiteKnightTwo – from which it will then come off at approximately 49,000 feet (15,000 meters). Once released, the spacecraft will launch its rocket, and will move towards the sky.
passengers will float in weightlessness for several minutes, before coming
The descent is slowed down by a system of "feathers" that sees the tail of the gear rotate, as if it were arching, before returning to normal and hovering at Virgin's "spaceport" in the New Mexico desert. 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 vessel
Virgin Galactic
The company also reached an agreement for the opening of a second "spaceport" at the airport Taranto-Grottaglie, south of Italy. 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, said Virgin at AFP
Blue Origin
Blue Origin, meanwhile, has developed a system closer 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 admire the view through large windows, the capsule gradually drops back to the ground with three large parachutes and backpushers.
From take-off to landing, the flight lasted 10 minutes during the last test
Until now, the tests were conducted only with the help of mannequins on the site of West Origin, Texas
. have recently stated that the first tests with the Blue Origin astronauts will take place "at the end of this year", with tickets to the public that are expected to go on sale in 2019.
But in comments AFP On Friday, the company took a more cautious note.
"We did not set the price of the tickets and did not have any serious discussions within Blue on the subject," the firm said. "We have a schedule of flight tests and schedules of these types always have uncertainties and unforeseen events. Anything that predict dates is guessing."
What's next?
SpaceX and Boeing Develop Their Own Capsules for Transportation NASA's astronauts, probably in 2020, after delays – a major investment that companies will likely offset by offering private passenger flights.
"If you're looking to go into space, you'll have quadrupled the menu of Phil Larson, vice-dean at the University of Colorado, Boulder's College of Engineering and Applied Science, declared: AFP .
In the longer term, the Russian company that manufactures Soyuz rockets is studying the possibility of bringing tourists back to the ISS. And an American start-up 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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