Earth's richest man Bezos to blast off into space
Sunday, 18 July 2021 18:38
Write a comment
Jeff Bezos, the richest person in the world, is set to join the astronaut club Tuesday on the first crewed launch by Blue Origin, another key moment in a big month for the fledgling space tourism industry.
The mission comes days after Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson crossed the final frontier, narrowly besting the Amazon magnate in their battle of the billionaires.
Blue Origin's sights are, however, set higher: both literally in terms of the altitude to which its reusable New Shepard craft will ascend compared to Virgin's spaceplane, but also in its future ambitions.
How can you become a space tourist?
Sunday, 18 July 2021 18:38 Write a comment
Thrill-seekers might soon be able to get their adrenaline kicks—and envy-inducing Instagram snaps—from the final frontier, as space tourism finally lifts off.
All you'll need is a bit of patience. And a lot of money.
Here's a rundown of where things stand.
Who's offering spaceflights?
Two companies are offering short "suborbital" hops of a few minutes: Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, founded by Richard Branson.
Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket takes off vertically and the crew capsule detaches and crosses the Karman line (62 miles, or 100 kilometers, in altitude), before falling back to Earth with three parachutes.
Virgin Galactic uses a massive carrier plane, which takes off from a horizontal runway then drops a rocket-powered spaceplane. This in turn soars to over 50 miles altitude before gliding back.
In both cases, up to six passengers are able to unbuckle from their seats to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and take in the view of Earth from space.
Who's who on Blue Origin's first crewed flight
Sunday, 18 July 2021 18:37 Write a comment
Blue Origin's maiden crewed flight on Tuesday involves four people who will cross the Karman line, which separates Earth's atmosphere from space, for the very first time.
Here is a brief look at the quartet of soon-to-be astronauts.
The tycoon, Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos, 57, will leave behind the planet where he made his vast fortune for a few minutes on a spaceship built by the company he founded in 2000, when he was still merely a single-digit billionaire.
Centennial of ex-astronaut, US Senator John Glenn marked
Sunday, 18 July 2021 18:02 Write a comment
EXPLAINER: How Blue Origin's Jeff Bezos will soar into space
Sunday, 18 July 2021 18:02 Write a comment
Blue Origin ready for first crewed New Shepard launch
Sunday, 18 July 2021 17:51 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — Blue Origin is on track to perform the first crewed launch of its New Shepard vehicle July 20, carrying company founder Jeff Bezos and three others on a suborbital spaceflight.
At a July 18 news conference, company officials said they had successfully completed a flight readiness review for the NS-16 mission that will carry Bezos, his brother Mark, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen.
After conquering Earth, Bezos eyes new frontier in space
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43 Write a comment
Jeff Bezos sets his sights on a new frontier in space in the coming days after building a gargantuan business empire which has in many ways conquered the Earth.
His journey into space aboard a reusable rocket built by his firm Blue Origin comes just two weeks after he stepped aside as chief executive of Amazon, which grew from a garage startup into one of the world's most formidable business Boeing's Starliner secured atop Atlas V rocket for second uncrewed launch
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43 Write a comment
Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft was secured atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Saturday in preparation for this month's second uncrewed flight test.
The Starliner capsule was towed from Boeing's Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at to ULA's Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for hoisting atop the Atlas V, NASA s Thales Alenia Space to provide the first two pressurized modules for Axiom Space Station
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43 Write a comment
Thales Alenia Space, Joint Venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), and Axiom Space of Houston, Texas (USA), have signed the final contract for the development of two key pressurized elements of Axiom Space Station - the world's first commercial space station. Scheduled for launch in 2024 and 2025 respectively, the two elements will originally be docked to the International Space Station Thruster research to help propel spacecraft
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43 Write a comment
Faster space manoeuvres and safer, more sustainable, propellants may soon be possible thanks to a new three-year partnership between The Australian National University and French propulsion company ThrustMe.
Led by the ANU Research School of Physics, the joint research program will explore how electrothermal plasmas can help advance space propulsion technology.
ANU researcher Associa The role of the COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43 Write a comment
COSPAR, the Committee on Space Research, and its Panel on Planetary Protection (PPP) have recommended on 18 May 2021 that missions to the Moon would remain under the general terms of COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy Category II, but have added two sub-categories for lunar surface missions.
Category IIa concerns all missions to the surface of the Moon whose nominal mission profile does no Suborbital aerospace plane makes maiden flight
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43 Write a comment
China carried out the maiden flight of the prototype of a reusable suborbital aerospace plane in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Friday, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the country's major space contractor.
The unnamed prototype was lifted by a carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and flew for a certain period of time before maki Beyond Visible Noise: the 'sounds of space' on film
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43 Write a comment
Space scientists, spoken word artists and filmmakers teamed up to create a new short film, 'Beyond Visible Noise', that will launch at the National Astronomy Meeting on Tuesday 20 July. Dr Martin Archer of Imperial College London will describe how scientists and poets worked together to take the incredibly weak sound waves found in space and convert them to the audible content that features in t Billionaires in space: Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin touts rocket safety
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43 Write a comment
As Jeff Bezos prepares to become the second billionaire to blast into space on his own company's rocket next week, his Blue Origin is touting the safety of its rocket system.
The New Shepard suborbital rocket is scheduled for liftoff at 9 a.m. EDT Tuesday from the company's Corn Ranch launch site 160 miles east of El Paso, Texas - pending any weather or technical delays.
Blue Or First measurement of isotopes in atmosphere of exoplanet
Sunday, 18 July 2021 09:43 Write a comment
An international team of astronomers have become the first in the world to detect isotopes in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. It concerns different forms of carbon in the gaseous giant planet TYC 8998-760-1 b at a distance of 300 light years in the constellation Musca (Fly).
The weak signal was measured with ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile and seems to indicate that the planet is relat