Jeff Bezos pictured in front Blue Origin’s space capsule
Elon Musk and Sir Richard Branson are part of the “NewSpace” set. They all believe they were inspired to become astronauts by the 1969 moon landing.
Amazon founder Bezos seemed set to be among the first three people to reach space. However, he had previously announced his plans to launch from Blue Origin’s New Shepard Spacecraft. Branson beat him.
Virgin Galactic Astronaut001 was the British billionaire who made space in suborbital flight on September 9, nine days ahead of Bezos. He also flew test flights on July 11.
Bezos travelled to space on July 20 with his younger brother Mark, Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old physics student whose dad purchased his ticket, and pioneering female astronaut Wally Funk, 82.
Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, has stated that he would like to travel into space and even “die on Mars”, but he hasn’t said when. However, Virgin Galactic has booked a flight ticket for him with Virgin Galactic.
SpaceX was the first operator of’space tourism to launch a civilian crew into space. The Inspiration4 mission was funded by Jared Isaacman, a billionaire.
Elon Musk, a space-obsessed billionaire and space-flying billionaire built the Dragon capsule and SpaceX rocket that took him to orbit on September 16. He was going higher than the International Space Station.
SpaceX seems to lead the billionaire race for space with multiple launches that carry NASA equipment to orbit and partnership agreements to launch tourists into space by 2021.
On February 6 2018, SpaceX sent rocket towards the orbit of Mars, 140 million miles away, with Musk’s own red Tesla roadster attached.
Elon Musk in his Dragon Crew capsule
International Space Station, with crew from NASA, ESA and JAXA, the Japanese space agency.|International Space Station, with crew from NASA, ESA and JAXA, the Japanese space agency.
SpaceX is sending 60 satellites to space in order to build its Starlink network. This system provides high-speed internet for rural areas and has already been tested.
Virgin Galactic and Branson are using a completely different strategy to conquer space. It has repeatedly, and successfully, conducted test flights of the Virgin Galactic’s Unity space plane.
The first took place in December 2018 and the latest on May 22, with the flight accelerating to more than 2,000 miles per hour (Mach 2.7).
More than 600 affluent customers to date, including celebrities Brad Pitt and Katy Perry, have reserved a $250,000 (£200,000) seat on one of Virgin’s space trips. Expect to pay $350,000 for the final tickets.
Branson previously stated that he expected Elon Musk, his private rocket company SpaceX to win the race for Mars.
Richard Branson in the Virgin Galactic craft
SpaceShipTwo is capable of carrying six passengers, and can also carry two pilots. The same position is available to each passenger with the two large windows, one sideways and one overhead.
Spaceship is 60ft in length with a cabin of 90in diameter. It allows for maximum space to allow astronauts to floate in zero gravity.
The rocket engine starts to ignite at 50,000 feet. SpaceShipTwo separates from White Knight II, its carrier craft after it has traveled 50 miles.
When they cross the Karman Line, which is the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and the Earth’s atmosphere, passengers become “astronauts”.
With approximately 6 minutes of weightlessness the spaceship will fly suborbitally for approximately 1.5 hours.
Bezos revealed in April 2017 that he finances Blue Origin with around $1 billion (£720 million) of Amazon stock each year.
This system is composed of a crew capsule and a booster rocket that can be reused as a New Shepard.
The capsule reached 65 miles (104 kms) at its maximum height, just shy of the official space threshold. It landed vertically after seven minutes.
Blue Origin is currently working on New Glenn which will be the next-generation heavy lift rocket. It will be competing with SpaceX Falcon 9.