Branson and Bezos personally experience the thrill of suborbital flight: the chronicle
of two historic days.
Two flights that marked the beginning of an era, that of space travel for fun.
What future do they have and how much do they cost?
Can something truly useful be made out of them for all of humanity and not remain a
game for the rich?
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July 2021 will be remembered as the month that ushered in the era of tourist space travel.
The Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin companies blossomed this new form of tourism by sending
their respective founders into space - Sir Richard Branson, on July 11, and Jeff Bezos,
on July 20.
Beyond the two events that were concrete but can also be described as ceremonial, what
will be the future of these trips for wealthy tourists who choose to experience a 10-minute
vacation in space?
Sending people into space who don't have any kind of prior experience about flying in general
or who don't come from flight-trained military corps is not something that can be done with
a snap of the fingers.
In fact, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin were founded roughly
20 years ago.
Virgin Galactic was born in 2004, although its space ancestry stems from The Space Company
founded in 2005, also by Branson, and then fully absorbed by Virgin Galactic in 2012.
Blue Origin is even older.
Jeff Bezos brought it into existence in 2000, six years after Amazon.
Both have been working behind the scenes developing their own suborbital flight systems and having
mostly (or even) space tourist travel in mind.
Blue Origin came out of the closet and showed itself to the general public in 2009 after
receiving $3.7 million from NASA for its Commercial Crew program, aimed at facilitating the development
of a commercial space transportation platform for the United States to gain reliable and
affordable access to and from the International Space Station and also for activities in low
Earth orbit.
Unfortunately for Bezos, NASA then chose Boeing and Elon Musk's SpaceX capsules to follow
up on the program.
Blue Origin then got a taste of something else related to space other than space tourism,
but it was also able to exploit that for its suborbital flight recipe and that is completely
different from Virgin Galactic's.
But let's come to the chronicle of these two memorable days!
On July 11, Branson and the five crew members were taken into the skies over New Mexico
by the VMS Eve aircraft which, for Virgin Galactic's voyages, acts as the mother ship
that releases the spaceplane, which then completes the actual suborbital flight.
Branson and the other five crew members were aboard the latter: the VSS Unity.
The parent aircraft reached an altitude of about 14 km when, at a speed of Mach 0.5,
it undocked the VSS Unity spaceplane, which fired its hybrid propellant engine.
After about 2 minutes and 40 seconds, at a top speed of Mach 3.1, VSS Unity touched down
at its apogee at an altitude of about 86.1 km and then began its descent.
Just before reaching apogee, VSS Unity rotated the wings and both tails (a phase that in
jargon is called "feathering") to give stability to the aircraft and brake the descent, which
ended happily with the landing at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Inside the cabin of the VSS Unity, billionaire Sir Richard Branson, 70, owner of Virgin Galactic,
at an altitude of 86 km said in a video transmitted to the ground: "Once I was a child with a
dream looking at the stars.
Now I'm an adult in a spaceship looking down on our beautiful Earth.
To the next generation of dreamers: if we can do this, imagine what you can do."
Next, he and the rest of the crew experienced a few minutes of microgravity before the spaceplane
began its re-entry glide.
Once on the ground, Branson received astronaut wings manufactured by Virgin from retired
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.
The official Federal Aviation Administration pins, which are given only to those who have
been in space, will be given at a later date.
But has Branson been to space, yes or no?
Beyond the importance of the mission for taking a crew of six on a suborbital flight, the
event gained interest precisely because of the presence of Branson, who anticipated Bezos
in the challenge of the "first wealthy owner of a space company to fly in space."
Branson reached an altitude of 86.1 km, just beyond the mesopause set at 85 km.
The Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), which deals with standards and records
in astronautics and aeronautics, defines the beginning of space as crossing the imaginary
Kármán line set at 100 km altitude.
But the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Air Force, the National Oceanic, and
Atmospheric Administration, and part of NASA indicate 80 km as the boundary.
In fact, the Air Force grants astronaut wings to pilots who exceed this altitude.
For the United States, therefore, Sir Richard Branson has been to space!
Virgin Galactic reported that it expects at least two more test flights of the spaceplane
in the coming months before beginning regular commercial operation in 2022.
Virgin Galactic also reported that 600 "aspiring private astronauts" have already booked a
suborbital flight at a price of about $250,000 per ticket...
Among them are famous faces from the star system such as Tom Hanks, Justin Bieber, and
Lady Gaga...
In short, there is to get in line, although fortunately it seems that at full capacity
Virgin Galactic will be able to make more than 400 launches per year.
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Jeff Bezos' approach to space has been completely different.
Amazon founder took off on July 20, the date of the first lunar landing, from a launch
pad in Texas on a rocket with a capsule on top hosting the four space tourists.
The launch system is called New Shepard (in honor of Alan Shepard, the first American
in suborbital space), and is an 18-meter-tall booster that is also capable of landing vertically
for reuse.
Once undocked from the rocket, the capsule continues its long parabola up to 100 km altitude
to cheer its passengers with a breathtaking view of the Earth.
Reaching the apex of the parabola arc, the capsule then gently lands thanks to the opening
of three parachutes towards the 2000 meters height.
The suborbital journey of Tuesday, July 20 was also Blue Origin's first manned flight
after 15 test flights without anyone on board, all of which were perfectly successful apart
from the first.
In fact, Bezos took off with three fellow passengers: Bezos' brother Mark, 82-year-old
former aviator Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, the first paying tourist in
Blue Origin history.
Daemen and Funk became the world's youngest and oldest astronauts, respectively.
The New Shepard system's rocket, with the capsule occupied by the four space tourists
atop it, departed about 8 minutes late due to a mission check that occurred 15 minutes
into the launch when the four were already aboard.
Commentators on the flight, however, were not overly concerned.
Since there were no times or rendezvous in space to be met, and they also had favorable
weather on their side, there was no problem in doing additional sensor-driven checks.
In fact, the mission countdown continued smoothly after the eight-minute break.
The rocket, powered by the BE-3 oxygen and liquid hydrogen engine, lifted off from the
ramp at Blue Origin Site One in West Texas.
It should be noted that only the tourists were inside the capsule atop the module, as
the New Shepard's journey is fully automated and does not require the presence of pilots
or engineers.
Of course, the system has its own safety systems.
In fact, the capsule can separate from the rocket in case of problems, and it can even
land without a parachute.
There is also an "escape" plan even in space, using a special engine that can lead the capsule
on a course that will bring it back to earth.
After one minute of flight, the rocket was already at an altitude of about 7.5 kilometers.
After 2 minutes and 20 seconds, the rocket engine was shut down and the separation of
rocket and capsule took place at the expected altitude of about 75 kilometers.
Four minutes after launch, the now separated capsule reached its apogee at 107 km, then
prepared for the long downward parabola.
In the meantime, the carrier rocket also continued beyond the imaginary Kármán line, and prepared
for a successful vertical landing about 7.5 minutes after launch.
The booster, reusable, had already flown two other times before this mission.
In the capsule, Jeff and Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and young Oliver Daemen were able to
experience weightlessness for about 4 minutes while enjoying the landscape of the Earth
as seen from an altitude of more than 100 km.
At an altitude of less than two kilometers, the descending capsule opened the three parachutes
that accompanied it over the Texas desert floor.
A few meters above the ground, the expulsion of strong jets of air brought the descent
speed to about 5 km per hour and the module with the four tourists landed safely a few
seconds later.
Blue Origin technicians came and approached the capsule connecting it to the ground with
a cable to discharge the static electricity generated by the module travel.
A few minutes later Jeff Bezos was the first to exit the New Shepard wearing a flashy cowboy
hat.
He was followed by his brother Mark and Oliver Daemen and Wally Funk.
All four space tourists can be called "astronauts" because they exceeded not only the 80 km altitude
set by the American flight authorities but also the Kármán line set at 100 km, chosen
by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale for the determination of any flight that can
be defined as "space".
The celebrations obviously ended with champagne.
After a mutual exchange of good wishes and compliments, Sir Richard Branson and Jeff
Bezos wanted to emphasize that there has never been any rivalry between them.
Bezos said, "This is not a competition, this is about building a road to space so that
future generations can do amazing things."
Yet when Jeff Bezos announced on June 7 that he would be going into space on July 20 with
his brother Mark, Sir Richard Branson made sure to find a seat on his VSS Unity whose
departure was already scheduled for July 11...
The two tourist flights offer similar but different experiences and already this would
help the two companies to avoid a war.
Even the price could be a discriminating factor, but according to some rumors the cost of Blue
Origin's flight for a single tourist will not be far from the 250,000 euros asked by
Virgin Galactic.
There are also other potential competitors in this field, but they are far behind Branson
and Bezos.
There is Exos Aerospace, formerly known as Armadillo Aerospace, which, however, has shown
little substance.
There is Masten Space System, which however seems more focused on the contract with NASA
to send a lander to the Moon in 2022.
And of course, we cannot fail to mention Elon Musk's SpaceX, which has the potential to
do better than both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin.
Even though it has launched itself into space exploration, Musk's company has not given
up on space tourism.
SpaceX has in fact announced the launch of Inspiration4, which will be the first mission
in the world to bring a crew consisting entirely of civilians into Earth orbit.
Inspiration4 will leave Earth in mid-September, launched from the historic Launch Complex
39A at Kennedy Space Center, and will travel for three days on an Earth orbit at an altitude
of about 500 km.
The capsule that will house the mission crew is a modified Crew Dragon.
Instead of the tip, which is usually used for docking to the space station, was in fact
installed a panoramic dome and... a toilet.
To command the mission (and to pay the ticket for himself and three other "tourists") will
be Jared Isaacman, an American billionaire expert pilot and holder of several world records
of flight.
Of course, the crew will receive from SpaceX all the necessary training for a safe flight,
including information about the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, the Crew Dragon capsule, the conditions
of microgravity, zero gravity, and other forms of stress to which they will be subjected
during the trip.
This will be followed by emergency preparedness training, exercises in and out of the suits
and spacecraft, and mission simulations.
At the end of the mission, Crew Dragon will re-enter Earth's atmosphere for a landing
near the coast of Florida.
There will truly be fun to be had.