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By coincidence, the same day I planned to launch this new blog is the same day that Space Shot, the space tourism skill game, officially opened to the public. Space Shot, for those who have now been closely following its development, is an online skill game where contestants compete for a ride on Rocketplane Ltd.’s XP spaceplane. For a $3.50 fee per entry, people try to guess the weather conditions—high and low temperatures, average humidity, and precipitation total—in New York City’s Central Park each day. Contestants compete head-to-head, and whomever is closest to the actual weather conditions recorded wins and moves on to the next level. Win 17 levels and you get a free Rocketplane flight.
MSNBC’s Alan Boyle has a detailed article about the venture, going into some of the nitty-gritty issues like legal concerns (Space Shot founder Sam Dinkin tells Boyle that if any state’s attorney general complains, he “would have to lock them [that state’s residents] out” of the competition. Dinkin, who has openly discussed his plans for such a venture in previous issues of The Space Review, offers more details about the work required to create Space Shot in this week’s issue. I’ll have more to say about Space Shot in a future post.
(Disclaimer: Sam Dinkin has been a frequent contributor to The Space Review over the last couple of years, although less frequent is recent months as he devoted his time to Space Shot. However, I have not been involved in the development of the company in any way beyond publishing his articles that touched on the topic.)
For those of you who have wondered in from The Space Review or other locales, welcome to my new blog. Personal Spaceflight is devoted to the emerging space tourism industry (the blog takes its name from one of the alternative terms put forward for “space tourism”, although none seem to have the cachet of the original term.)
Why space tourism? In recent years it’s become clear that space tourism is possibly the biggest—if not the only—growth market for the space industry in general in the near to mid term. Satellite launches for conventional markets, government and commercial, have been flat in recent years, and limited demand and high launch prices have created a vicious circle. Space tourism is perhaps the best opportunity to break that cycle, with a large market of willing customers (or “self-loading carbon-based payloads”, as Peter Diamandis has called them) sufficient to warrant the development of new vehicles that can access space at far lower costs—with potential applications beyond just ferrying passengers.
Space tourism has received growing attention in recent years, thanks to the Ansari X Prize and the flights of SpaceShipOne, and more recently with the activities of Virgin Galactic, Rocketplane Ltd., Space Adventures, and other companies seeking a share of the market. I’ve been following space tourism for several years, from back in the late 1990s when it suffered from the “snicker factor”: the inevitable giggle that would come from the audience of a space industry event when someone mentioned it with a straight face. That snicker factor is largely (but not entirely) gone, thanks in part to the very real accomplishments of the industry to date as well as the considerable investment being made by the likes of Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Paul Allen.
Of course, space tourism has its share of hype, dubious ventures, and unrealistic expectations. With Personal Spaceflight I hope to share both big news and little tidbits about the industry, good and bad, to provide a perspective on the state of the industry. This is certainly not the only blog that is devoted in part or in total to space tourism; I’m just adding my own voice to the cacophony. I hope to avoid unwarranted boosterism, but also extreme negativity: cautious optimism, with a mild dose of skepticism, is what I’m aiming for here. Please email me your comments, suggestions, questions, etc. about this blog. Let’s see just how vital space tourism is to the future of the space industry and spaceflight in general.
For months attention (and a little bit of ridicule) has focused on plans in the Wisconsin State Legislature to create a state aerospace authority charged primary with developing a state spaceport for commercial spacecraft, such as in the lakeshore town of Sheboygan. The bill has passed both houses of the state legislature and is expected to be signed into law by the governor in the next few weeks. So full speed ahead for Spaceport Sheboygan? Well, it depends on what you mean by “spaceport”, according to an article in Sunday’s Sheboygan Press. City officials, such as Gary Dulmes of the Sheboygan Development Corp., are focused on creating an educational center:
The planned science and education center is commonly referred to as Spaceport Sheboygan, but that term technically refers to an area of restricted airspace over Lake Michigan from Port Washington to Manitowoc, according to the SDC business plan. The City of Sheboygan has state permission to build a future public-use spaceport within that area.
But Sheboygan will not be Cape Canaveral, North Campus any time in the near future.
“Is there going to be commercial space travel? Yes. Will it be here? Who knows – but that was not the purpose of the aerospace authority bill,” Dulmes said. “There’s other firms that are out there trying to do it, seeing it as a huge moneymaker, but it certainly isn’t on our radar.”
State Sen. Joe Leibham, R-Sheboygan, who proposed the WAA bill, said the nine-member WAA would oversea potential future use as a launch site, but Dulmes said nothing larger than the 10- to 12-foot rockets used annually by Rockets for Schools is in the SDC business plan.
A companion article in the Press points out that it is possible for a suborbital spaceport to develop in Sheboygan, or elsewhere in Wisconsin, but it won’t happen soon. Both Leibham and George French, president of Rocketplane (and the founder of Sheboygan’s Rockets for Schools program a decade ago), said that the authority is a necessary first step. But as Sheboygan mayor Juan Perez put it, launching rockets from a Sheboygan spaceport “sounds a little bit far-fetched.”
There are several companies competing in the suborbital tourism market: Virgin Galactic, Rocketplane, Space Adventures, among others. By in large the companies have said little about each other in public, other than a few glittering generalities or, at worst, some very general dismissals of unnamed rivals. In the cover story of the latest issue of Arabian Business, Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson and Will Whitehorn has some less-than-kind things to say about Space Adventures, however:
Branson is dismissive, telling Arabian Business: “A lot of companies around the world are now offering space travel, but no-one else has made the same progress as us. People have to be careful about paying deposits. I don’t want to name any companies, but we have looked at all the different kinds of technology. We looked at Russian technology and we dismissed it. We looked at a lot of US technology, and we dismissed it.”
His Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn is even more disparaging of the claims coming out of Ras Al-Khaimah and Space Adventures, adding: “They haven’t actually built a system that works. It has never flown. It is a plywood mock-up in the middle of Russia. I favour competition but only when it exists. You shouldn’t sell people dreams that don’t work.”
The Ras Al-Khaimah reference above is to plans announced by Space Adventures in February to set up a spaceport in the emirate, part of the UAE. That spaceport will be at the Ras Al-Khaimah International Airport, but the Arabian Business notes that several companies—the three mentioned above plus the Canadian-US venture PlanetSpace—have been checking out an unused airstrip in the emirate for possible conversion into a spaceport. As the article notes, “local residents have for several months noticed the fleets of limousines that regularly pull up, circle the area for half an hour, then disappear.” Officials from these four companies have apparently all been passengers in those limos.
Space Adventures isn’t lying low, though. Richard Branson was in Dubai last week, primarily to publicize the beginning of Virgin Atlantic flights to the UAE, but also to discuss potential Virgin Galactic flights from RAK. During that trip Space Adventures announced that it would fly the first UAE national, Adnan Al Maimani, on one of its flights from the RAK airport. “I am honored to represent the UAE as the first national to fly to space, but even more thrilling is that I’ll launch from Ras Al-Khaimah,” he said in a Space Adventures press release. “If I could fly today, I would!”
An article in The Sunday Telegraph about Virgin Galactic and space tourism scores something of a coup: a quote from former NASA administrator Dan Goldin, who rarely talks to the press. Under Goldin’s leadership, as many readers may recall, NASA was staunchly opposed to the flight of Dennis Tito, the first space tourist to visit the ISS. It appears that Goldin’s opinion towards space tourism hasn’t softened in the intervening years:
“Space Shuttle crews work on the presumption that there is a 1-in-250 probability of them not making it back,” says Dan Goldin, a retired Nasa administrator. “That compares with 1-in-2,000,000 for commercial airline operations. This is serious stuff and should be reserved for highly trained professionals. It isn’t Disneyland.”
Goldin’s statement, though, is based on the assumption that suborbital space tourism vehicles will be no more reliable than the shuttle, something that vehicle developers, most notably Burt Rutan, would not agree with: Rutan has publicly stated that his vehicles will be far safer than existing spacecraft, and comparable early airliners from the late 1920s and 1930s.
A couple of people who signed up for Virgin Galactic flights, though, don’t seem deterred by the risks. “It’s an addiction, pal” said Bill Cullen. “I’ve got to go. My wife’s not happy. Partly because there’s no life insurance for this trip. Forget it. We’re on our own.” Richard Burr: “It’s a boy thing. When you’re a kid you want to be either a rock star or an astronaut. This is my big chance.” Presumably not to be a rock star.
Leave it to the UK tabloid The Sun to take on a particular medical issue associated with suborbital spaceflight:
WOMEN with boob jobs may be banned from Sir Richard Branson’s space flights — in case their breasts EXPLODE.
Yes, that’s right, explode. (Emphasis above in the original article.) The issue, Virgin Galactic’s Will Whitehorn said yesterday in a meeting in Dubai, is apparently associated with the low cabin pressure planned for SpaceShipTwo. (How low will that pressure be? Presumably the atmospheric pressure in the cabin will be high enough to allow people to breathe without masks; at what level would the pressure cause problems for implants but still be acceptable to breathe?) Whitehorn: “We’ve discovered there may well be issues with breast augmentation. We’re not sure whether they could stand the trip — they could well explode.” Of course, if they do pose a problem, Virgin might end up shutting out a significant fraction of potential tourists from the entertainment industry…
One of the celebrities who have reportedly signed on customers of Virgin Galactic is William Shatner. Problem is, Shatner thinks otherwise, according to an interview with the Calgary Herald (via the Ottawa Citizen):
“No, no, that’s not true,” the actor, a month away from 75, says from the TV set of Boston Legal. “Well, they’re saying I did, but I did not. They’re getting some mileage out of it, that’s for sure. I’m asking for a cease and desist.”
“Who the heck wants to go out into space?!”
Remember, Trek fans, that might just be the Evil Captain Kirk talking there.
Not even the prospect of tying John Glenn as the oldest person in space tempts Shatner: “Yes, but John Glenn had to train for two weeks.” Actually, more like six months; in any case, the training time for a Virgin Galactic flight will likely be considerably less than two weeks.
Kate Moss, the British model who ran into some controversy—not to mention potential legal problems—in recent months after allegations of drug use, is apparently looking to get high in a very different way. According to one report, Moss wants to become the “first supermodel in space” buy purchasing a ticket for a Virgin Galactic flight. (Nevermind the nonsensical statement in the report about orbiting Earth; this would be a suborbital flight.) While Moss would apparently have to pay the full $200,000 price of a ticket, she does get a discount of sorts: she recently sold the rights to her autobiography to Richard Branson’s Virgin Books.
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Welcome!
For those of you who have wondered in from The Space Review or other locales, welcome to my new blog. Personal Spaceflight is devoted to the emerging space tourism industry (the blog takes its name from one of the alternative terms put forward for “space tourism”, although none seem to have the cachet of the original term.)
Why space tourism? In recent years it’s become clear that space tourism is possibly the biggest—if not the only—growth market for the space industry in general in the near to mid term. Satellite launches for conventional markets, government and commercial, have been flat in recent years, and limited demand and high launch prices have created a vicious circle. Space tourism is perhaps the best opportunity to break that cycle, with a large market of willing customers (or “self-loading carbon-based payloads”, as Peter Diamandis has called them) sufficient to warrant the development of new vehicles that can access space at far lower costs—with potential applications beyond just ferrying passengers.
Space tourism has received growing attention in recent years, thanks to the Ansari X Prize and the flights of SpaceShipOne, and more recently with the activities of Virgin Galactic, Rocketplane Ltd., Space Adventures, and other companies seeking a share of the market. I’ve been following space tourism for several years, from back in the late 1990s when it suffered from the “snicker factor”: the inevitable giggle that would come from the audience of a space industry event when someone mentioned it with a straight face. That snicker factor is largely (but not entirely) gone, thanks in part to the very real accomplishments of the industry to date as well as the considerable investment being made by the likes of Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Paul Allen.
Of course, space tourism has its share of hype, dubious ventures, and unrealistic expectations. With Personal Spaceflight I hope to share both big news and little tidbits about the industry, good and bad, to provide a perspective on the state of the industry. This is certainly not the only blog that is devoted in part or in total to space tourism; I’m just adding my own voice to the cacophony. I hope to avoid unwarranted boosterism, but also extreme negativity: cautious optimism, with a mild dose of skepticism, is what I’m aiming for here. Please email me your comments, suggestions, questions, etc. about this blog. Let’s see just how vital space tourism is to the future of the space industry and spaceflight in general.