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“If you look at Branson’s spacecraft, it really creates a transportation system that looks a lot like a commercial airline. You will take off at an airport and you will land at an airport,” says Lugo.
What most aeronautical engineers call a more traditional view of crewed spacecraft is Bezos’s, Lugo said. The entire launch and re-entry of Blue Origin took about 10 minutes. The crew were launched through a capsule attached to the nose of a rocket, which broke off as the crew capsule continued into space and returned to Earth, reaching a maximum altitude of 351,210 feet before falling back to Earth, and then deploying the parachutes. land.
Whatever their differences, experts say both flights represent important milestones in the future of space flight.
“These vehicles re-imagine travel, just as the pioneers of the first airplanes did,” he says. Elaine PeterProfessor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell.
Beyond bringing humans closer to orbit, Petro says both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin can develop new approaches for faster intercontinental travel, as both vehicles can reach four to five times the speed of a regular airplane.
Petro is encouraged by the pace of progress he sees in the industry. “Ten years ago, the Obama administration was pushing for the expansion of the commercial launch vehicle industry. “Now two public space travel platforms have flown crews last week, and SpaceX has signed a contract to take astronauts to the moon.”
And what’s next for Blue Origin? While commercial space tourism is just getting started, Bezos believes it’s time to start more flights. lower the cost so that in the next few decades everyone can have the chance to experience the beauty of life on Earth.
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