space travel

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After 19 Years, Virgin Galactic Brings Customers to Space

Spaceplane carried trio of Italian researchers

(Newser) - Almost 20 years after British billionaire Richard Branson founded Virgin Galactic, the company has taken is first paying customers to the edge of space. The company's VSS Unity rocket plane took three Italian passengers to suborbital space Thursday in a journey that lasted 72 minutes from takeoff to touchdown...

'White Rabbit' Moon Landing Will Be a Big First

Hakuto lander from Japan firm ispace will be first spacecraft from private company to land on moon

(Newser) - A Japanese company is about to attempt what no other private business has done: land on the moon. Tokyo's ispace company put its own spacecraft into orbit around the moon a month ago. On Tuesday, flight controllers will direct the craft, named Hakuto (Japanese for "white rabbit")...

Man Who Flew to Space With Shatner Killed in Plane Crash

Glen de Vries, 49, rode in Blue Origin rocket last month

(Newser) - A man who traveled to space with William Shatner last month was killed along with another person when a small plane crashed in northern New Jersey, according to state police. Glen M. de Vries, 49, of New York City, and Thomas P. Fischer, 54, of Hopatcong, were aboard the single-engine...

NASA's Lucy Is Now in the Sky, With Diamonds

Spacecraft is on 12-year mission to explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids

(Newser) - A NASA spacecraft named Lucy rocketed into the sky with diamonds Saturday on a 12-year quest to explore eight asteroids. Seven of the mysterious space rocks are among swarms of asteroids sharing Jupiter's orbit, thought to be the pristine leftovers of planetary formation. An Atlas V rocket blasted off...

Another Billionaire Has Safely Sent Tourists Into Space

SpaceX crew first all-amateur group to circle Earth

(Newser) - Four space tourists safely ended their trailblazing trip to orbit Saturday with a splashdown in the Atlantic off the Florida coast, per the AP . Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the ocean just before sunset, not far from where their chartered flight began three days earlier. The all-amateur crew was the...

4 Space Tourists Will Orbit Earth for 3 Days
It's a 'Major Milestone
in Human Spaceflight'
THE RUNDOWN
Sep 15, 2021 11:15 AM CDT

It's a 'Major Milestone in Human Spaceflight'

4 tourists, expected to launch Wednesday, will orbit Earth for 3 days

(Newser) - Another billionaire is headed to space, this time with an all-civilian crew, in what CNN reports is the "first orbital mission in the history of spaceflight to be staffed entirely by tourists or otherwise non-astronauts." A retrofitted SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Resilience will spend three days orbiting...

Richard Branson Got to Space. Now Comes the Hard Part
Richard Branson Got to Space.
Now Comes the Hard Part
the rundown
Jul 12, 2021 10:55 AM CDT

Richard Branson Got to Space. Now Comes the Hard Part

Entrepreneur has to show space tourism is a viable business

(Newser) - Richard Branson blasted off into space on Sunday and returned safe and sound, but the Wall Street Journal reports that perhaps a bigger challenge for Branson's Virgin Galactic company still lies ahead: Can it make space tourism a viable business? Jeff Bezos, of course, hopes to do the same...

Advice to Bezos, Branson: 'Read the Room'
Advice to Bezos, Branson:
'Read the Room'
OPINION
Jul 9, 2021 1:11 PM CDT

Advice to Bezos, Branson: 'Read the Room'

Critics weigh in on the billionaires' space race

(Newser) - With Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos planning their first trips to space as dangerous heat waves intensify, some people suspect the billionaires are planning futures off the planet. Not going to happen, says Sim Kern in an essay at Salon . "As a scifi writer and the spouse of a...

Some Unusual Petitions About Bezos Are Circulating

10K want Amazon CEO denied re-entry to Earth, others want him to eat art

(Newser) - The way Jeff Bezos tells it, his trip to space next month will be the fulfillment of a childhood dream . In the view of some 10,000 critics, it will instead represent the ascent of "an evil overlord hellbent on global domination." More than 10,000 people have...

Jeff Bezos Is About to Go on His 'Greatest Adventure'

Amazon CEO will head into space on July 20 with his brother

(Newser) - After a hard pandemic year, many Americans are starting to plan their summer vacations, but it's doubtful many getaways will top the one that Amazon's CEO just announced. "Ever since I was five years old, I've dreamed of traveling to space," Bezos wrote in a...

Want to Go on SpaceX Flight to the Moon? He's Paying

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa launches contest for 8 to ride with him to lunar orbit in 2023

(Newser) - It's a Frank Sinatra song come to life, courtesy of a billionaire. In 2018, tycoon and art collector Yusaku Maezawa, founder of Japanese online fashion mall Zozotown, was announced as the first signed passenger aboard SpaceX's Starship rocket, set to fly to the moon sometime in 2023. At...

Child Cancer Survivor Will Be Youngest American in Space

Physician Hayley Arceneaux, 29, to orbit Earth in SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket later this year

(Newser) - Later this year, a big first in space travel is on the calendar: the first manned mission around Earth, courtesy of SpaceX, with not a single professional astronaut on board. The trip was made possible by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who the New York Times notes bought the Falcon 9 rocket...

Astronomers: There's a Space 'Superhighway'
Astronomers Find
Cosmic 'Superhighways'
new paper
Dec 12, 2020 3:40 PM CST

Astronomers Find Cosmic 'Superhighways'

Researchers call it a 'true celestial autobahn'

(Newser) - Think space travel is just too slow? Well, good news: Astronomers say they've uncovered an "autobahn" of invisible interactions that moves objects along—and might just speed up space exploration, Science Alert reports. The new research hinges on "manifolds," or gravitational regions that exist between orbital...

Take a Peek Inside Virgin Galactic's Space Plane

It includes plenty of windows and cameras to capture the $250K experience

(Newser) - Virgin Galactic has offered a look inside its tourist space plane for those of us who can't afford the $250,000 ticket. The six-passenger SpaceShipTwo, a collaboration with London design agency Seymourpowell, is designed entirely around "the view of Earth from space," explains chief space officer George...

Starliner Returns Early but Smoothly

Spacecraft got its trajectory wrong just after takeoff

(Newser) - "Congratulations, Starliner," Mission Control said as the unmanned Boeing spacecraft landed safely before dawn Sunday in New Mexico. The desert landing at White Sands Missile Range was successful, but the mission was not. Gifts, including clothes and food, meant for the crew of the International Space Station came...

Blastoff Nears for Boeing's Starliner Crew Capsule

Next time, astronauts could be on board

(Newser) - Boeing's shiny new Starliner crew capsule is scheduled to make its debut Friday with a launch to the International Space Station, the company's last hurdle before flying astronauts for NASA next year. Testing the cosmic waters will be Rosie the mannequin, in Boeing's custom blue spacesuit and...

'Spaceport America' Unveiled
'Spaceport America' Unveiled
Aug 16, 2019 12:21 AM CDT

'Spaceport America' Unveiled

Virgin Galactic plans to launch thousands of tourists from New Mexico facility

(Newser) - Spaceport America is no longer just a shiny shell of hope that space tourism would one day launch from a remote spot in the New Mexico desert. The once-empty hangar that anchors the taxpayer-financed launch and landing facility has been transformed into a custom-tailored headquarters where Virgin Galactic will run...

Big Ask From NASA for Its 2024 Moon Expedition

Agency says it will need between $20B and $30B over the next 5 years

(Newser) - Back in March, Vice President Mike Pence vowed we'd get to the moon by 2024 by "any means necessary." Now, there's a number that NASA is pinning to "necessary": The agency says it will need between $20 billion and $30 billion over the next five...

Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Reaches Space

It's a big milestone for the commercial space industry

(Newser) - Virgin Galactic has officially reached space. Sir Richard Branson's company launched a spacecraft more than 50 miles into the air Thursday, not reaching orbit but successfully meeting the Federal Aviation Administration's definition of space, the Washington Post reports. It was the first spacecraft with humans aboard to be...

A Journey to Mars Could Mean Major Astronaut Health Woes

A study found that deep space radiation may cause cancer and intestinal issues

(Newser) - A study funded by NASA in a bid to determine what effects a journey into deep space might have on the health of astronauts has uncovered some startling possibilities for those brave souls who might one day venture to Mars. Per CNN , the findings out of Georgetown University Medical Center...

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