Space Travel: A Giant Leap of Mankind

Key takeaways

One of the exciting industries for consumers is the combination of space and tourism.
The Space Station has contributed to space exploration and has worked with several aerospace firms.
With everything documented by the scientist till date, there are high possibilities that the space is yet to be explored at its fullest.

One of the exciting industries for consumers is the combination of space and tourism. Over the years of science and technology development in history, scientists and researchers have made space travel possible for consumers other than astronauts. As a kid, everyone would dream of what space looks like outside their science textbooks, and a few privately-owned companies have taken a step forward to explore more about space —one of them being- Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bozos. Once asked about his future plans in 2000 in an interview, he jokingly mentioned how he would want to explore space if not his dotcom business. Twenty years later, in 2020, Jeff Bozos travelled to space in the first ever civilian crewed spacecraft, and now the primary focus of the company is space tourism. Recently, NASA announced the appointment of Blue Virgin’s team for their Artemis mission to the moon that includes Lockheed Martin, Draper and Northrop Grunnman on the board.

Other privately-owned companies working towards going to the space are:

SpaceX founded by Melon Musk that has launched its Crew Dragon spacecraft to International Space Station
Virgin Galactic owned by Richard Brandon who is the first civilian to travel to space and aims to begin its paid passenger service soon
Orion Space founded by Frank Burger that aims to build a space station and hotel accommodation- Aurora Space Station
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) that has worked with US Air Force and NASA in building space aircraft and its components.

Existence Beyond the Earth #

Outer space exists beyond the Earth and between celestial bodies consisting of low-density particles, plasma of hydrogen and helium, electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, cosmic rays and more. It is a near close definition of the perfect vacuum that allows stars and planets to move freely in the orbital direction. According to researchers, outer space has condensed forms of stars and galaxies. The galaxy has 90% of mass that is made from unknown matter and is called Dark Matter that usually functions with gravitational force only. The outer space has no definite altitude; however, the Kármán line is used as a start of outer space in the space treaties. The altitude is 100 km above sea level. The Outer Space Treaty was established on October 10, 1967 that states outer space cannot be claimed by any nationality and permits all states to freely explore outer space. However, because of vacuum dangers and other particles present in outer space, humans’ exploration of outer space is limited and challenging.

What Does Big Bang Theory State About Outer Space? #

According to Big Bang Theory, about 13.8 billion years ago, the early universe was dense and hot that rapidly expanded. It cooled down about 380,000 years ago, allowing the fusion of protons and electrons that formed hydrogen. When this fusion took place, matter and energy decoupled that allowed protons to move freely throughout the space. The remaining matter from the initial expansion created stars, galaxies and other astronomical objects through gravitational force. This theory also stresses on the size of the directly observable universe.

The History of Space Tourism #

Talking about space tourism without its history is very complicated to understand. In the 1930s and 1940s, Nazi Germany saw the possibility of rockets as a destructive weapon. Later after World War II, The Soviet Union of Russia and the United States of America started investing in making their own missiles. Since then, space tourism has been an interesting topic in human mankind, taking leaps over exploring space. Here are a few significant incidents in the history of space exploration:

1. First Artificial Satellite- Sputnik 1 #

Soviets launched its first-ever artificial satellite- Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, into space. This step of Soviet was not only a reflection of its technical leadership but also reflected its capability to make missiles. Later in 1961, on April 12, Lt. Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth in Vostok 1. Gagarin travelled in his space fight for 104 minutes and reached up to the height of 327 km. His flight from the Earth started at 9:07 am Moscow time and ended at 10:55 am.

After the Sputnik 1 fame, the United States of America launched its first satellite- Explorer 1 in January31, 1958, with Alan Shepard, the first American to fly into space.

2. The First Man to Walk on the Moon #

According to the officials, “Landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth within a decade” was a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. Neil Armstrong, on July 20, 1969, became the first man to walk on the Moon. Between 1969 and 1972, the Six Apollo Mission was sent to explore the Moon. Later by the early 1970s, orbiting communication and navigation satellites were used, and the Mariner Space was prepared and sent to map Mars. By the end of the 1990s, Voyager Spacecraft was launched that sent detailed images of planets such as Jupiter and Saturn.

3. Hubble Space Telescope #

Named after Edwin Powell Hubble, Hubble Space Telescope was launched on April 25, 1990. The telescope was placed in orbit by the crew members of the Discovery Space Shuttle that had advanced optics that photographed the stars and planets flawlessly and stirred up the astronomy field.

4. First Private Spacecraft #

Space Ship One is the first private spacecraft to take a flight on June 21, 2004. Developed and designed by Scaled Composites of Mojave, California, Burt Rutan designed the aircraft, and the spacecraft took flight with Mike Melvin, becoming the first commercial astronaut pilot.

5. The International Space Station #

The International Space Station is a designated laboratory for all space-related research in low Earth orbit. The Space Station has contributed to space exploration and has worked with several aerospace firms. The station started functioning in 2000 after the arrival of Expedition 1. It has served to many visiting aircraft such as Russian Soyuz and Progress, Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle, The American Dragon and Cygnus.

The Vehicle Behind The Mission’s Success- Sub-Orbital Flight #

When spaceflights are launched and reach outer space, it intersects the gravitating body from which it is launched and does not complete one orbit revolution.

For any space flight to reach outer space, speed plays a crucial role. However, a sub-orbital flight does not need speed as high as others; instead, it requires speed to reach 100km above the Earth’s surface. Unlike other rockets that require a speed of 28,000 KMPH, sub-orbital flights only require 3,700 KMPH.

Once the sub-orbital flight reaches the trajectory intersection, the engines shut off and fall back to the Earth. According to the scientist, sub-orbital flights at their highest point experiences weightlessness in the process while falling back to the Earth.

Two of the most trending sub-orbital flights are Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic. Here is what you need to know about the sub-orbital flights:

Blue Origin- Blue origin launched New Shepherd after the name of the first American Astronaut - Alan Shepherd. The flight carried its founder Jeff Bozos and three other passengers. The sub-orbital aircraft is divided into six parts: Crew Capsule, Ring and Wedge Fins, Drag Brakes, Engine, Aft Fins, and Landing Gear. The flight is reusable and can take the astronauts and passengers past the Karma line in 11 minutes.
Virgin Galactic - Virgin Galactic was founded in 2000 by Richard Brandon. The company aims for Space Tourism allowing consumers other than astronauts to travel to outer space. It aims to allow paid passengers to travel to space by the end of 2022. The first trial of the flight in 2009 failed at execution. However, on July 11, Virgin Galactic’s Richard Brandon became the first civilian to travel to space. Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo System can carry six passengers with community access to space for affordable and repeatable high-quality microgravity.

Space Tourism: Blue Origin Vs. Virgin Galactic #

Space Tourism is one of its kind niches. Many teach-giants are working towards making their name in the Space Tourism industry. Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are one of the names that rose to fame in this industry. Both, with its extraordinary impression, have given a lifetime experience to its consumer. However, here are a few difference between them for you to know about: -

Blue Origin’s New Shepherd flight could reach at the altitude of 66 miles above the surface while Virgin Galactic’s VSS unity flight was able to fly 53.5 miles above the Earth’s surface.
The VSS flight of Virgin Galactic is similar to NASA’s Space Shuttle while New Shepherd of Blue Origin is more traditional.
Blue Origin’s trip lasted for 1o minutes while Virgin Galactic’s trip lasted for 90 minutes.
The landing of the VSS unit is on a runway in a very traditional way while New Shepherd opens three parachutes and trusted fired to cushion during the touchdown blow of landing.
The cost of Virgin Galactic is $250,000 while of Blue Virgin is $200,000.

How Space Tourism is Harming Environment #

With advanced technologies and the dream to reach outer space, scientists have completely steer cleared the effects of space flights on the environment. The energy at which the space flight is used to launch in outer space, exhausts CO2 emission and soot gets trapped in the environment resulting in global warming. The cooled down atmosphere formed water vapor that reflects the sunlight back to space.

According to scientists, rockets during launch emit nitrogen oxides between three to four times more than Draw (Europe’s biggest polluters). Other harmful gases emitted in the process of making space flights and its launch includes CFCs- one of the major reasons for Ozone hole.

The Future of Space Tourism #

Modern Space Exploration in several forms today plans to allow human beings to take flight in outer space. The primary focus of the NASA scientists today is mapping Mars and aims to send humans on the planet by 2023. NASA and its collaborators have experimented knowing more about the Red Planet by sending wanders, orbiters, and rovers.

One such rover is the Curiosity Rover that gathers radiation data to protect the astronauts and MARS 2020 Rover will learn more about the planet and resources availability on the planet.

Space Tourism is an interesting chapter in the history of humankind. No one centuries ago would have ever thought of stepping on the moon. With everything documented by the scientist till date, there are high possibilities that the space is yet to be explored at its fullest.

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