Displaying items by tag: spaceflight

Interorbital Systems Corporation (IOS) is an American aerospace company based in Mojave, California.

It was founded in 1996. Interorbital Systems is working on a line of launch vehicles aimed at winning the Google Lunar X Prize. The company was also a competitor for both the Ansari X-Prize  and America's Space Prize. 

Interorbital Systems' prototypes are all designed to be amphibious (capable of launch from land or sea). Although IOS currently tests its spacecraft at the Mojave Airport & Spaceport and conducts testbed launches from the Mojave Desert, it plans to develop and implement a method for launching directly from the water without a launch platform. 

Icarus Interstellar is a research organization dedicated to achieving interstellar Flight by 2100.

The mission of Icarus Interstellar is to realize interstellar flight before the year 2100. We will accomplish this objective by researching and developing the science and the technologies that will make interstellar flight a reality, igniting the public's interest, and engaging with all those prepared to invest in interstellar exploration.

Rocketplane Global, Inc. (RGI)  is an USA company dedicated to commercial space flight.

Rocketplane is designing the XP suborbital vehicle.

Rocketplane was founded in 2001.

Swiss Space Systems (S3) is a company which plans to provide orbital launches of small satellites and suborbital spaceflights to space tourists.

The company is based at Payerne Airport in western Switzerland, where it plans to build a spaceport in 2015. Suborbital spaceplanes will be launched from an Airbus A300, giving the spacecraft more initial speed and altitude than if it were launched from the ground. The spacecraft, in turn, will release a disposable third stage. The company targets to charge 10 million CHF for a launch, using unmanned suborbital spaceplanes that could carry satellites weighing up to 250 kilos (550 pounds). The costs are reduced by the reusable nature of the spaceplane and other launch facilities and by a lower fuel-consumption than conventional systems.

The spaceplane will also provide suborbital spaceflights to tourists, with the addition of a pressurised module.

The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is a private American spaceflight industry group, incorporated as an industry association for the purposes of establishing ever higher levels of safety for the commercial human spaceflight industry, sharing best practices and expertise, and promoting the growth of the industry worldwide.

Issues that the Commercial Spaceflight Federation work on include, but are not limited to, the STIM-Grants program for spaceport infrastructure, FAA regulations and permits, industry safety standards, public outreach, and public advocacy for the commercial space sector.

Its mission: "To promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry."

Rocketstar Robotics is an American company dedicated to providing actuators and mechanisms for spaceflight applications.

The company has over 25 years of experience in the design and manufacture of spacecraft mechanisms.

The Golden Spike Company is an American space transport startup company,with the objective to offer private commercial space transportation services to the surface of the Moon.

The company is planning to transform human space exploration by putting in place affordably priced lunar orbital and surface expeditions to the only natural satellite of the Earth – the Moon. Golden Spike will further transform human lunar exploration by making these missions participatory expeditions that involve the general public in ways that create exciting new ways to monetize human space exploration.

The name of the company is in reference to the ceremonial final spike placed in the First Transcontinental Railroad upon its completion. 

The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable launch system and orbital spacecraft operated by the NASA for human spaceflight missions.

The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons. The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981 leading to operational flights beginning in 1982. It was used on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011 all launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

The Space Shuttle at launch consisted of the Orbiter Vehicle (OV), one external tank (ET), and two Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). The orbiter decelerated in the atmosphere before flying like a glider but with reaction control system thrusters before landing on a long runway.

The final Space Shuttle mission was in July 2011 to deliver parts to the International Space Station (ISS).

The Spaceflight Meteorology Group (SMG) is a U.S. weather forecasting unit staffed by the National Weather Service (NWS) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) which provides pertinent information on the current and expected state of the atmosphere during human spaceflight operations. It is located at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Meteorological information for the broader space program is provided by the 45th Space Wing's 45th Weather Squadron of the U.S. Air Force.