commercial space travel
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Virgin Galactic passengers will wear these Under Armour spacesuits
Yesterday, NASA revealed the spacesuits its astronauts will wear on future Moon and Mars missions. They're impressive but clunky and a little heavy-handed on the patriotic theme. As you might expect, commercial space travel will be a bit more stylish. Today, Under Armour unveiled the space gear -- a base layer, spacesuit and boots -- that it's designed for passengers on Virgin Galactic flights.
Boeing delays its first Starliner test flight until August
For a while, Boeing and SpaceX have been neck-and-neck in their race to provide the first commercial space travel. That might be changing, as NASA and Boeing announced they'll delay the first uncrewed flight test of Boeing's Starliner. The spacecraft will now launch in August -- a full year after it was first scheduled to takeoff.
'Lucy In The Sky' trailer shows a darker side of space travel
Today, we got our first glimpse of the Lucy In The Sky trailer. Starring Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm, this is the first feature film directed by Noah Hawley, who's behind Fargo and Legion. Lucy In The Sky is loosely based on the headline-grabbing story of astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak. After returning from space, Nowak had a breakdown in which she drove from Houston to Orlando, where she attempted to kidnap a woman involved in a love affair with another astronaut.
Planetary Resources shows off Arkyd-100 prototype, gives a tour of its workspace
We last heard about Planetary Resources back in April of last year, when the team formally announced plans to mine asteroids for things like water and precious metals like platinum. Chris Lewicki, who sports the unspeakably cool title of president and chief asteroid miner, assures us all that his team has been very hard at work in the interim. While he's not quite ready to show everything off just yet (due, in part, to intellectual property concerns), the space executive gave the internet a glimpse of the Arkyd-100 mechanical prototype, a space telescope and technology demonstrator packed into a dense 11 kilograms. In the below video, Lewicki give a quick walk around the lightweight, low-cost prototype. There's also a glimpse of the of the company's Class 10,000 clean room and Arkyd-100 manufacturing facility.
Blue Origin dishes more details on its Bezos-backed spacecraft
Blue Origin typically keeps pretty tight-lipped about its projects. The private space-travel firm claims it prefers to talk about what is has done, rather than what it hopes to do. As such, We recently heard about its "Space Vehicle" (that's its actual name,) having completed wind-tunnel testing, and now the firm (partly funded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos) has revealed a little more. The craft in question is a seven-seater, and it took 180 rigorous tests to get to the final design. Blue Origin has been working with NASA under the agency's CCDev program, which awarded the firm $22 million to develop the project. Under the same initiative, Blue Origin is about to start testing on its BE-3 engine thrust chamber, which will help give the BE-3 rocket motor its 100,000 pounds of thrust. Once complete, this engine will be used in the company's multi-launch vehicle, and is currently on the test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Mississippi. We'll spare you the puns about it not being "rocket science."
Commercial space shuttle prototypes fly through wind tunnel testing
A pair of companies developing their own commercial space shuttles are presumably trying to flatten their hair after some rigorous wind tunnel testing. First up, Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos (the guy behind Amazon), a company that's remained pretty quiet on its efforts to shuttle astronauts to the International Space Station. Its Space Vehicle setup will plump for a biconic shape (seen above), with a flattened side and a split flap. According to Blue Origin's president, Rob Meyerson, the shape allows greater volume than traditional designs, but forgo the "weight penalty" of winged craft. Compared to earlier capsules, the Space Vehicle's shape, with its fuselage flap to generate lift, should also give it better control on re-entry to earth.Juggling for wind tunnel time, Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser has also been blasted with smoke to test its own air resistance credentials. Its module would launch from the top of the rocket, and glide (as much as anything that costs this much can) back to earth like NASA's own space shuttles. The Dream Chaser is planning its first flight for this fall. You can check out its more traditional take on the future of space travel after the break -- and decide which of the two you'll want sending your children to the mines.[Picture credit: Blue Origin, SNC]
Space Adventures will shoot you (and your ego) to the moon for $150 million
Y'know, there are only so many pristine beaches and spectacular slopes one can see before terrestrial tourism becomes blasé. That's why Space Adventures -- who lets folks vacay in space via suborbital jaunts -- is offering to shoot you to the moon during your next work sabbatical. Amateur astronauts won't actually land on the lunar surface, of course, but their Soyuz spacecraft will get within 62 miles of it. To indulge in your lunar fantasy, it'll only cost you 150 million bucks, or roughly the GDP of a [insert small island nation here]. One of the two seats is already taken, but the company needs another would-be moon man or lunar lady before the trip's a go. The only thing stopping us (and everyone we know) from signing up is an empty bank account -- does Fastweb do spaceflight scholarships?
Elon Musk says SpaceX will send a man to space in three years, Mars within the next two decades
Elon Musk has never been one to shy from making bold predictions, which is why we're not surprised to hear that he has high hopes for the future of space travel. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, the SpaceX founder said his company will "probably" put a man in space within the next three years, in the hopes of sending passengers to Mars within the next ten to 20 years. Earlier this month, Musk's company unveiled plans for the "world's most powerful rocket," the Falcon Heavy, just a few weeks before receiving $75 million from NASA to help spur the development of its commercial spaceflight projects. Musk, it seems, is approaching these projects with an almost sacred sense of duty. "A future where humanity is out there exploring stars is an incredibly exciting future, and inspiring," he explained, "and that's what we're trying to help make happen." Head on past the break to see the full interview (space talk begins around the 13:00 mark).
First commercial spaceport christens inaugural runway in New Mexico desert (video)
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo won't have to taxi down public runways for much longer. Today, founder Richard Branson and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson cut the ribbon at a nearly two-mile long runway for the world's first commercial spaceport. While the rest of the facilities at New Mexico's Spaceport America are still under construction and Branson estimates sub-orbital launches are still nine to eighteen months away, the 42-inch-thick strip of pavement is definitely complete -- see the WhiteKnightTwo mothership come in for a landing right after the break. Update: Our best pals over at Gadling got a few exclusive interview snippets in their own video!
