Over the past year, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and SpaceX have made their first tourist missions. Companies sent several people into outer space. It is difficult to call each of them a professional astronaut, because their training was minimal. At the same time, Roscosmos also made a couple of tourist space flights as part of the Space Adventures program. 2022 should be no less eventful in terms of space tourism, because Axiom Space, which uses the SpaceX Crew Dragon (Dragon 2) device, should also enter this direction. To keep abreast of events, it’s time to recall the most significant events in the tourist space exploration for 12 months.
Axiom Space’s private crew will fly to the ISS in 2022
Four people will take part in the Axiom Space Ax-1 (Axiom Mission 1) mission:
- Michael Lopez-Alegria – former NASA astronaut, vice president of Axiom Space and commander of Ax-1;
- Larry Connor, American real estate entrepreneur and Ax-1 pilot;
- Mark Pathy is a Canadian investor and philanthropist;
- Eytan Stibbe is an Israeli aviator and businessman.
Actually, this team should visit the ISS as part of the first private mission of Axiom Space – she announced this on January 26, 2021 after a commercial agreement with NASA. The SpaceX Crew Dragon ship was chosen for the role of the vehicle – the corresponding agreement for its use was confirmed back in June. NASA officially allowed the crew to fly on December 20, and in 2022 it is very likely to take place.
SpaceX has finally successfully tested a spaceship like Starship
Starship is a SpaceX project that involves sending cargo and people to the Moon, as well as Mars. It is interesting for the reusable use of ships, which should have an extremely positive effect on the cost of each launch. Elon Musk’s company must not only launch the vessel to a height, but also land it on the surface. Prior to Project SN15 landing successfully, most of the other Starship launches ended—not particularly well, to put it mildly. However, on May 5, SpaceX managed to complete the experiment quite successfully. As part of Starship, flights to Mars are also planned, and the first step in this direction has actually been made.
Virgin Galactic sent Richard Branson into space
During a live broadcast of the spaceflight on July 11, 2021, Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, emphasized that these are:
…an experience of a lifetime.
A crew of four, as well as a pair of test pilots, took off from the Spaceport America site in New Mexico and flew close to the lower edge of space. During the flight, the entire crew experienced about four minutes of weightlessness. Jeff Bezos really wanted to go into space before Richard Branson, so he criticized his flight due to insufficient height. Moreover, Virgin Galactic got into federal proceedings just about flights. However, the company still offers everyone who wants to go into space on a commercial basis. The ticket price is at the level of $450,000 apiece.
Blue Origin sent Jeff Bezos into ‘real’ space
A few days after the successful flight of Virgin Galactic with Richard Branson on board, Jeff Bezos also went into space. Why “real”? The fact is that in this case the flight took place at a higher distance, which is classified as outer space by a large number of specialists (above the Karman line, and not below it, as happened with Virgin Galactic). In addition to Jeff Bezos, there were three other space tourists on board. But the pilots were not with them. The fact is that this shuttle is controlled autonomously, so they are not required there. The ship launched from the Blue Origin One pad near Van Horn, Texas.
SpaceX has combined Starship with a supermassive booster
On August 6, 2021, at Starbase near the village of Boca Chica in Texas, SpaceX SN20 (from the Starship series) was installed on a Super Heavy Booster 4. The overall design set a record as the highest rocket in the world – 120 meters (“Saturn V” reached a height 110 meters). The next important step will be the launch of SN20 into orbit with the help of this supermassive accelerator. Apparently, it will take place as early as 2022, but this will still have to pass the environmental review of the Federal Aviation Administration. The launch has already been delayed several times precisely because of such checks.
Inspiration4 launches civilians on first mission
On September 15, 2021, billionaire Jared Isaacman and company flew aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon. The ship reached low Earth orbit, and Inspiration4 became the first crewed orbital mission without professional astronauts on board (Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin flights are considered suborbital). The flight was led by Isaacman himself – he was accompanied by Hayley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski and Sian Proctor. The latter received places in support competitions for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, the former worked there as a doctor.
Blue Origin launches William Shatner into space
William Shatner is the permanent star of Star Trek. On October 13, he boldly ventured into suborbital space on Blue Origin’s second manned space mission, NS-18. Notably, the actor who played Captain James T. Kirk was 90 years old at launch. After returning to the surface of the planet, he emphasized:
It didn’t look like anything they described.
William became the oldest person ever to fly into space. He broke the record previously set by 82-year-old Wally Funk. The latter took part in the Blue Origin manned flight on 20 July.
Russian film crew filmed an episode of the drama on the ISS
Actress Yulia Peresild, director Klim Shipenko and escort cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky went to the ISS to shoot the film. The flight, organized by Roskosmos, took place on October 17. The episode on board the station will become part of the “Challenge” picture – in this fragment, the surgeon went into space to perform an emergency operation on an astronaut right in zero gravity. The film is a joint project of Roskosmos, Channel One and Yellow, Black and White studios.
Blue Origin launched a famous TV presenter into space
On December 11, 2021, Blue Origin flew into space again. The main tourist on board this time was Michael Strahan, host of Good Morning America. Such a journey, to put it mildly, surprised him:
I want to return!
Also on board was 74-year-old Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of the NASA astronaut after whom the New Shepard is named. The rest have paid for their seats, but Blue Origin has yet to announce a public cost per seat for everyone.
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa flew to the ISS
On December 19, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa returned to the surface of the planet, who visited the ISS with video producer Yozo Hirano and cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. The flight lasted 12 days and started on December 8th. Maezawa also plans to fly around the Moon as part of a commercial SpaceX mission, currently scheduled for 2023. It is not known how much Maezawa paid for the flight to the ISS, but usually individual places to visit the station were estimated at up to $35 million each.
Source: space.
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