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Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism,including orbital,suborbital and lunar space tourism.
Human spaceflight programs have been conducted,started,or planned by multiple countries and companies. The age of manned rocket flight was initiated by Fritz von Opel who piloted the world's first rocket-propelled flight on 30 September 1929. All space flights depend on rocket technology;von Opel was the co-designer and financier of the visionary project. Until the 21st century,human spaceflight programs were sponsored exclusively by governments,through either the military or civilian space agencies. With the launch of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004,a new category of human spaceflight programs –commercial human spaceflight –arrived. By the end of 2022,three countries and one private company (SpaceX) had successfully launched humans to Earth orbit,and two private companies had launched humans on a suborbital trajectory.
A spaceplane is a vehicle that can fly and glide like an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and maneuver like a spacecraft in outer space. To do so,spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbital spaceplanes tend to be more similar to conventional spacecraft,while sub-orbital spaceplanes tend to be more similar to fixed-wing aircraft. All spaceplanes to date have been rocket-powered for takeoff and climb,but have then landed as unpowered gliders.
Virgin Galactic Holdings,Inc. is an American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California,and operates from New Mexico. The company is developing commercial spacecraft and aims to provide suborbital spaceflights to space tourists. Virgin Galactic's suborbital spacecraft are air launched from beneath a carrier airplane known as White Knight Two. Virgin Galactic's maiden spaceflight occurred in 2018 with its VSS Unity spaceship. Branson had originally hoped to see a maiden spaceflight by 2010,but the date was delayed for several years,and then delayed again,primarily due to the October 2014 crash of VSS Enterprise.
VSS Enterprise was the first SpaceShipTwo (SS2) spaceplane,built by Scaled Composites for Virgin Galactic. As of 2004,it was planned to be the first of five commercial suborbital SS2 spacecraft planned by Virgin Galactic. It was also the first ship of the Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo class,based on upscaling the design of record-breaking SpaceShipOne.
The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It is manufactured by The Spaceship Company,a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic.
The Scaled Composites Model 348 White Knight Two (WK2) is a quadjet cargo aircraft that is used to lift the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft to release altitude. It was developed by Scaled Composites from 2007 to 2010 as the first stage of Tier 1b,a two-stage to suborbital-space crewed launch system. WK2 is based on the successful mothership to SpaceShipOne,White Knight,which itself is based on Proteus.
SpaceShip III is an upcoming class of spaceplanes by Virgin Galactic to follow SpaceShipTwo. It was first teased on the Virgin Galactic Twitter account on 25 February 2021 announcing the rollout of the first SpaceShip III plane on 30 March 2021.
The British space programme is the British government's work to develop British space capabilities. The objectives of the current civil programme are to "win sustainable economic growth,secure new scientific knowledge and provide benefits to all citizens."
VSSUnity,previously referred to as VSS Voyager,is a SpaceShipTwo-class suborbital rocket-powered crewed spaceplane. It is the second SpaceShipTwo to be built and is part of the Virgin Galactic fleet. It first reached space as defined by the United States on 13 December 2018,on the VP-03 mission.
RocketMotorTwo (RM2) is a family of hybrid rocket engines developed for the Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane.
The VSS Enterprise crash occurred on October 31,2014,when the VSS Enterprise,a SpaceShipTwo experimental spaceflight test vehicle operated by Virgin Galactic,suffered a catastrophic in-flight breakup during a test flight and crashed in the Mojave Desert near Cantil,California. Co-pilot Michael Alsbury was killed and pilot Peter Siebold was seriously injured.
VP-03 was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS Unity which took place on 13 December 2018,piloted by Mark P. Stucky and co-piloted by Frederick W. "CJ" Sturckow.
Mark P. "Forger" Stucky is an American test pilot and commercial astronaut. In these roles,he was an employee of Virgin Galactic,a private spaceflight company which is developing sub-orbital space tourism flights.
VF-01 was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS Unity that took place on 22 February 2019,piloted by David Mackay and co-piloted by Mike Masucci. It was operated by Virgin Galactic,a private company led by Richard Branson that intends to conduct space tourism flights in the future. Following VSS Unity VP-03,VF-01 was a demonstration of the craft's ability to carry passengers. Virgin Galactic's chief astronaut trainer Beth Moses acted as a test passenger,evaluating the experience for potential customers.
Virgin Galactic Unity 22 was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS Unity which launched on 11 July 2021. The crew consisted of pilots David Mackay and Michael Masucci as well as passengers Sirisha Bandla,Colin Bennett,Beth Moses,and Richard Branson.
Virgin Galactic Unity 25 was a sub-orbital spaceflight by Virgin Galactic that took place on 25 May 2023. The flight used their SpaceShipTwo spaceplane VSS Unity. The crew consisted of six Virgin Galactic employees. Unity 25 was the first spaceflight for the company since Unity 22 in 2021,when founder Richard Branson flew to space.
References
- ↑ "Biography of Head of the Australian Space Agency". Australian Space Agency. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ↑ "Enrico Palermo, Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
- ↑ "Promoting a culture of research in industry" (PDF). UWA News.
- ↑ "Issue-08-October-2014 [MS Word Document, 4.9 MB]". studylib.net. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
- ↑ Hatch, Patrick (9 April 2017). "Meet the Australian engineer pioneering space tourism". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
- ↑ "Uniview" (PDF). Uniview. 2014.
- ↑ "Virgin Galactic Envisions Future High-Speed Air Travel: Q&A With Enrico Palermo - Via Satellite -". Via Satellite. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
- ↑ White, Anna. "Engine Powering Future Civilian Spaceflight Enters Collections". Smithsonian Online.
- ↑ Andrews, Karen (13 November 2020). "New Head of the Australian Space Agency announced". Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
- ↑ "Perth rocket scientist in final countdown". PerthNow. 19 August 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
- 1 2 "Enrico Palermo | newsmaker". News | The University Of Western Australia. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
- ↑ "Beyond Earth: Innovation Lecture 2014 Highlights". Vimeo. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
- ↑ Director, RSAA; webmaster@mso.anu.edu.au. "2014 Warren Centre Innovation Lecture - Beyond Earth". rsaa.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 23 October 2020.