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<ul><li>Space startup <keyword id="12510760" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="spinlaunch" source="Orion">SpinLaunch</keyword> has been working on a new and more sustainable way of launching rockets.</li><li>It tested its first prototype last month and plans to conduct more tests for the final product.</li><li>The <keyword id="12510761" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="suborbital-accelerator" source="Orion">suborbital accelerator</keyword> uses kinetic energy to launch rockets instead of the traditional fuel-based system.</li></ul>Space startup SpinLaunch has developed a prototype of a very unique and different kind of launchpad to shoot rockets into orbit. It’s a <a href="https://www.spinlaunch.com/suborbital#p1" data-type="tilCustomLink">suborbital accelerator</a> that’s even taller than the Statue of Liberty and looks like a giant-sized rolling tape. What happens inside is electric-powered kinetic energy spinning the rocket and flinging it up to orbit.<br /><br />This will be different from the traditional way of launching fuel-based rockets vertically, and it’s also said to be a less expensive and environmentally sustainable alternative, according to SpinLaunch. The company successfully demonstrated its first prototype of its suborbital accelerator last month near Spaceport America in New Mexico.<br /><br /><strong>How does it work<br /></strong><br />The suborbital accelerator features the largest span vacuum chamber inside which there’s a massive rotating arm that uses kinetic energy to spin the rocket several times the speed of sound and then lets go of it so the projectile is flung into the air, according to a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/09/spinlaunch-completes-first-test-flight-of-alternative-rocket.html">report</a> by CNBC. At its first launch, SpinLaunch said the suborbital accelerator successfully propelled a test vehicle at supersonic speeds. This prototype used only around 20% of the accelerator’s power and touched an altitude of tens of thousands of feet, the report added.<br /><br /><strong>Only a testbed<br /></strong><br />The suborbital accelerator is only a test-bed for the final product, the <keyword id="12510763" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="orbital-launch-system" source="Orion">Orbital Launch System</keyword>. The company plans on conducting regular test flights with a variety of vehicles and different launch vehicles throughout 2022. It plans to conduct around 30 suborbital test flights from Spaceport America. As for the final Orbital Launch System, it is still in the works and there’s no confirmed launch timeline for it yet. <br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:</strong><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/samsung-galaxy-s22-series-launch-date-specifications-and-everything-you-need-to-know/articleshow/87643657.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Samsung Galaxy S22 series: launch date, specifications and everything you need to know</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/disney-ceo-bob-chapek-confirms-the-company-will-build-its-own-metaverse/articleshow/87641073.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">After Facebook, Disney wants to build its own metaverse</a><br />

This space startup wants to slingshot rockets into orbit

<ul><li><keyword id="12510760" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="spinlaunch" source="Orion">SpinLaunch</keyword> and <keyword id="6360409" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nasa" source="Orion">NASA</keyword> signed an agreement to test the <keyword id="13590815" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mass-accelerator" source="Orion">mass accelerator</keyword> launch system.</li><li>The whole operation is based on a kinetic energy launch system.</li><li>Watch the first test launch below.</li></ul>National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has joined hands to send a payload by using a suborbital kinetic energy system with California-based company SpinLaunch. The test flight is expected to happen later this year. With the test flight, NASA aims to gain valuable information about potential future commercial space launch opportunities. This collaboration is funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate at the agency’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C. <br /><br />SpinLaunch completed the test of its suborbital <keyword id="38166" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mass" source="Orion">mass</keyword> accelerator in October and following this year NASA has joined hands to try out the huge centrifugal slingshot later this year. Check out the SpinLaunch suborbital accelerator's first launch below.<br /><br />          <div type="Youtube" id="Z6esOcWrrEE" title="SpinLaunch Suborbital Accelerator - First Launch" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Z6esOcWrrEE/mqdefault.jpg"></div><br />Founder and CEO of SpinLaunch, Jonathan Yaney said, “SpinLaunch is offering a unique suborbital flight and high-speed testing service, and the recent launch agreement with NASA marks a key inflexion point as SpinLaunch shifts focus from technology development to commercial offerings,” He added, this innovative idea was started with an aim to make space more accessible through game-changing launch technologies. <br /><br /><strong>SpinLaunch— sustainable access to space</strong><br />SpinLaunch was founded in 2014 by Jonathan Yaney with the aim of sustainable and easy access to space. It uses a revolutionary kinetic launch system that accelerates the launch vehicle up to 2000 miles per hour by using a rotating carbon fiber arm along with a 300-ft diameter steel vacuum chamber. The use of potential kinetic energy will eliminate 70 percent of fuel and rocket structure. Once the rocket has reached above the stratosphere the small rocket engine will provide the final required velocity and positioning.<br /><br />In October 2021, SpinLaunch test-fired its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/this-space-startup-wants-to-slingshot-rockets-into-orbit/articleshow/87644752.cms">first operation</a>. Since then suborbital has conducted a number of test flights with a variety of payloads and speeds at Spaceport America, Mexico. SpinLaunch plans to perform its first orbital test flight by 2025.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:</strong><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/astronomers-may-have-just-found-the-most-distant-astronomical-object-ever-observed/articleshow/90703688.cms">Astronomers may have just found the most distant astronomical object ever observed</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/spacex-launched-4-astronauts-to-the-international-space-station-for-axiom-space-in-the-first-ever-all-private-mission/articleshow/90745440.cms">SpaceX launched 4 astronauts to the International Space Station for Axiom Space in the first ever all-private mission</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/scientists-claim-theyve-found-a-perfectly-preserved-dinosaur-fossil-killed-when-the-mass-extinction-asteroid-hit-the-earth-66-million-years-ago/articleshow/90760067.cms">Scientists claim they've found a perfectly preserved dinosaur fossil killed when the mass extinction asteroid hit the earth 66 million years ago</a><br />

NASA collaborates with SpinLaunch to test an innovative mass accelerator launch system — a slingshot to send payloads to space

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Blue Origin, the commercial spaceflight company founded by Amazon entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, claims to have flown and landed the world's first truly reusable suborbital rocket.</p><p>"Rockets have always been expendable. Not anymore," Bezos wrote in a <a href="https://www.blueorigin.com/news">blog post</a>. "Now safely tucked away at our launch site in West Texas is the rarest of beasts, a used rocket."</p><p>The&#xa0;New Shephard rocket lifted off&#xa0;from Blue Origin's&#xa0;launch facility in Van Horn, Texas, on Nov. 23, 2015, reached about 2,800mph, and flew to more than&#xa0;62 miles above the ground, the company said in a <a href="&lt;iframe%20width=%22800%22%20height=%22450%22%20src=%22https://www.youtube.com/embed/9pillaOxGCo?rel=0%22%20frameborder=%220%22%20allowfullscreen>&lt;/iframe>">press release</a>.</p><p>After deploying a space capsule, the rocket then plummeted&#xa0;back toward the ground, reignited its booster, and - in a world first - gently and safely touched down in the middle of a landing target.</p><p>Rockets cost millions of dollars and are normally lost after each launch. So a design&#xa0;that could be refueled&#xa0;over and over again would completely change spaceflight by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-and-elon-musk-have-changed-spaceflight-2015-4" target="_parent">dramatically decreasing the cost of launches</a>.&#xa0;Blue Origin seems to have done this for the first time ever, at least for suborbital rockets&#xa0;- launchers that&#xa0;fly in&#xa0;a high, dramatic arc and&#xa0;could provide paying passengers with a few minutes of zero-gravity play time, but can't put a spacecraft into orbit.</p><p>SpaceX is trying a similar feat with larger, more powerful rockets than could&#xa0;accelerate a spacecraft fast enough to break the chains of gravity and circle the Earth. But that company has, so far, not succeeded.</p><p>Watch a&#xa0;video of Blue Origin's&#xa0;historic test, below. ("When you watch the video you'll see that we took the liberty of engineering all the drama out of the landing," Bezos wrote in his post.)</p><p><div></div></p><p class="embed-spacer">We'll be updating this story as we learn more.</p><p class="tagline">Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-falcon-9-reusable-rocket-2015-4">How Elon Musk and SpaceX plan to drastically reduce the cost of space flight</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="RoYjFmdDqzlnykrwWfoldbxWYwdvQpBh" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Jeff Bezos just launched and landed the world's first reusable suborbital rocket

<ul class="summary-list"><li>On August 19th, Blue Origin filed a lawsuit regarding NASA's $2.3 billion contract with SpaceX.</li><li>Losing the contract was a big blow to Blue Origin, which was originally seen as a front runner.</li><li>Understanding the two companies differences is key to knowing why they're vying for the coveted contract.</li></ul><p>Blue Origin recently filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims protesting NASA <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-spacex-moon-landing-lander-contract-blue-origin-lawsuit-bezos-2021-8">awarding SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract</a> to help return astronauts to the moon. While the details of the complaint are sealed, they broadly allege that NASA improperly evaluated the proposals submitted for the Human Lander System (HLS) program.  The suit comes two weeks after the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/07/30/blue-origin-jeff-bezos-nasa-gao-lunar-lander/">Government Accountability Office rejected Blue Origin's claims</a> that the contract was unfairly awarded solely to Elon Musk's SpaceX, and has resulted in SpaceX pausing work on the HLS program until at least November 1st. </p><p>At first glance, the legal battle and public fighting between <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-jeff-bezos-spacex-blue-origin-feud-lawsuit-kuiper-2021-8">Blue Origin's founder Jeff Bezos and SpaceX's Elon Musk</a> seem like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-elon-musk-rivalry-history-timeline-2020-7">another chapter in the bitter rivalry</a> between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in an ensuing "billionaire space race." But as tempting as it is to lump these companies together, Blue Origin and SpaceX are more different than they are alike. Understanding these differences are key to knowing why each company is vying for the coveted NASA contract. </p><h3>Elon Musk wants to retire on Mars, Jeff Bezos wants you to work in space</h3><p>While it's fair to say SpaceX is ahead of Blue Origin in terms of technological development, pitting the two companies against one another oversimplifies the situation: Blue Origin and SpaceX have very different goals.</p><p>"Elon Musk wants to retire on Mars," said Laura Forczyk, founder of space consulting firm Astralytical. To that end, the billionaire founder of SpaceX has promised that his company would <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/01/elon-musk-highly-confident-spacex-will-land-humans-on-mars-by-2026.html">land humans on Mars by 2026</a>.  According to Forczyk, SpaceX's investment in reusable rockets like the Falcon 9, is indicative of their ultimate goals of long-distance interplanetary travel. </p><p>In comparison, Bezos started Blue Origin because he wants, "millions of people living and working in space," said Forczyk. Jeff Bezos has described his vision for space being inspired by Princeton physics professor Gerard O'Neill, where vast colonies aboard cylindrical space stations rotate above the earth <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/jeff-bezos-foresees-trillion-people-living-millions-space-colonies-here-ncna1006036">sustained on resources mined from the moon</a> and other celestial bodies. </p><h3>The two companies are at very different stages in their growth</h3><p>Despite both companies being founded in the early 2000s - Blue Origin in 2000 and SpaceX two years later -they have had very different trajectories. Blue Origin made headlines earlier this summer for conducting its first crewed suborbital space flight, 65 miles above the Earth surface. SpaceX on the other hand, skipped the suborbital phase, and moved straight to launching astronauts into orbit over the last year.</p><p>This difference in milestones can also be attributed to how both companies secure their funding. While Jeff Bezos has personally funded Blue Origin since its inception, SpaceX relies on government and commercial contracts. Projects like the Falcon 9 or Starlink, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-52-starlink-satellites-orbit-video-2021-5">company's high-speed satellite internet</a> service, are key revenue streams for SpaceX. Since the Falcon 9's first launch in 2011, it <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-won-two-pentagon-contracts-launch-military-rockets-2021-3">has become the go-to rocket</a> for government and commercial payloads.</p><p>Meanwhile, Blue Origin's private funding has allowed them to be opaque about their near-term plans. While the company is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bezos-blue-origin-space-tickets-price-cost-how-to-buy-2021-7">commonly associated with space tourism</a>, this isn't their primary goal. Instead, according to Forczyk, Blue Origin's latest hiring indicates a push towards engineering tools for resource extraction and developing commercial space stations - bringing the company one step closer to fulfilling O'Neill's vision.</p><h3><strong>So why is Blue Origin upset about SpaceX winning the NASA contract? </strong></h3><p>While vying for government contracts is integral to SpaceX's business model, Blue Origin's legal challenges may at first seem peculiar considering the company is funded by the world's richest man. But Bezos is still conservative in how he uses his personal funds: "Jeff Bezos hasn't been putting in the funding to really accelerate the programs they're working on," explained Forczyk. </p><p>By securing these lucrative NASA contracts, Blue Origin could receive the funds to hasten development of the tools that'll help the company achieve its vision of living and working in space. "In the background, [Blue Origin] is working on stuff they're not talking about publicly," said Forczyk. "If they can get NASA funding to help along the way to develop their technologies, I think they will." </p><p>Blue Origin had its sights set on the HLS contract for years. The company<a href="https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/04/30/blue-origin-wins-lions-share-of-nasa-funding-for-human-rated-lunar-lander/"> even won a majority of NASA's funding</a> for human-rated lunar landers, and seemed to be the frontrunner for the HLS contract. Losing the contract was a big blow to Blue Origin, both in terms  of what we know about their goals, but also because of the projects they haven't disclosed to the public. </p><p>For NASA, it was too expensive to fund multiple spacecrafts, a decision the GAO upheld. But this isn't going to stop Blue Origin from fighting for a seat at the table. It's unclear whether the legal challenge will be successful, but Blue Origin has invested a lot in its lunar lander program. The lawsuit is a last-ditch effort to make something of it.</p>

Why are SpaceX and Blue Origin fighting over NASA's lunar lander contract?

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="130495" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Virgin-galactic">Virgin Galactic</keyword> is gearing up to launch paying passengers to the edge of space aboard a reusable winged rocket ship called <keyword id="27202" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="SpaceShipTwo">SpaceShipTwo</keyword>.</li><li>The publicly traded <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virgin-galactic-ceo-high-speed-supersonic-hypersonic-space-tourism-travel-2020-6">spaceflight and space tourism</a> company, founded by Richard Branson in 2004, plans to reveal the finalized design of SpaceShipTwo's cabin on Tuesday.</li><li>Virgin Galactic won't say when it plans to begin launching space tourists, and has suffered many delays over the years.</li><li>However, the company has moved into final experimental flights to earn FAA approval and complete an internal test program.</li></ul><p>Sixteen years after Richard Branson founded Virgin Galactic, the company plans to unveil the interior design of its centerpiece suborbital rocket ship, SpaceShipTwo.</p><p>The vehicle is designed to fly to supersonic speeds and pierce the unofficial boundary of space some 62 miles above Earth.</p><p>At the pinnacle of such flights, six passengers — either a group of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/under-armour-designed-spacesuits-virgin-galactic-photos-2019-10">space tourists</a> or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-suborbital-crew-subc-office-virgin-galactic-blue-origin-2020-6">science researchers</a> — and two pilots would experience a few minutes of weightlessness before returning and landing at Spaceport America in Las Cruces, New Mexico.</p><p>Virgin Galactic is now in the final stages of a test-flight program before the company attempts to start commercial operations.</p><p>As those final experimental flights take place, the company is announcing that it has finalized the interior cabin of SpaceShipTwo.</p><p>Virgin Galactic has seen repeated setbacks to its goal to carry paying passengers, which founder Richard Branson had predicted could start as long ago as 2009. A prototype ship <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virgin-galactic-spaceship-reportedly-crashes-during-test-flight-2014-10?amp">failed over the desert in 2014</a>, killing a test pilot and further hampering the project.</p><p>But Virgin Galactic says it is now on the final stretch. The next phase of the company's existence is planned to kick off with the inaugural flight of Branson himself, followed by a manifest of at least 600 passengers who've already paid $200,000 to $250,000 each for a ticket. An additional 400 passengers who've placed $1,000 deposits may follow.</p><p>Since <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virgin-galactic-coronavirus-operation-testing-isolation-strategy-ceo-george-whitesides-2020-6"> the coronavirus pandemic</a> limits in-person tours, the company plans to reveal that design on Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET in a virtual tour on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC286Dnq4M4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube</a>, embedded below.</p><p>SpaceShipTwo's cabin has to work for passengers and pilots in a many challenging situations. Its missions involve dropping from a two-bodied mothership airplane, igniting its rocket engine, then accelerating to more than three times the speed of sound.</p><p>The ship can then give passengers a few minutes of weightlessness before descending, falling back to Earth in a spiral flight pattern to bleed off speed, and gliding to a soft runway landing.</p><p>In a press release, Virgin Galactic said the "cabin interior has been created to integrate seamlessly with every step of that journey, it is also the design centerpiece, providing safety without distraction, quietly absorbing periods of sensory intensity and offering each astronaut a level of intimacy required for personal discovery and transformation."</p><p>Ahead of the event, the company released a short teaser clip for its unveiling, below.</p><p>A spokesperson could not tell Business Insider when Virgin Galactic planned to begin commercial operations.</p><p>However, the spokesperson noted that only one or two rocket-powered test flights remain before the Federal Aviation Administration can sign off on the final five of 29 requirements to license the vehicle.</p><p>"We're now on what I think of as sort of the final stretch of those," George T. Whitesides, the CEO of Virgin Galactic, told Business Insider in May. "Many of those have to do with things related to the cabin. Stuff like humidity [levels]."</p><p>Following those one or two powered flights and an FAA license, the spokesperson said Virgin Galactic can fly additional missions to the edge of space with up to four employee passengers each to test out the company's cabin hardware and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virgin-galactic-signs-nasa-private-astronaut-training-deal-2020-6">suborbital astronaut training program</a>.</p><p><em><strong>Have a story or inside information to share about the spaceflight industry?</strong> Send Dave Mosher an email at <a href="mailto:dmosher+tips@businessinsider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dmosher+tips@businessinsider.com</a> or a Twitter direct message at <a href="https://twitter.com/davemosher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@davemosher</a>. More secure communication options are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dave-mosher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listed here</a>.</em></p><p><em>This story has been updated. It was originally published on July 2, 2020.</em></p>

Watch live: Virgin Galactic is unveiling the interior cabin of its SpaceShipTwo rocket that will fly people to the edge of space after 16 years of effort

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.virgingalactic.com/news/">Virgin Galactic; MarsScientific.com/Trumbull Studios</a></span></p><p class="caption">SpaceShipTwo, or VSS Unity, launches toward the edge of space for the second time on February 22, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Virgin Galactic, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/space-tourism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">space tourism</a> company founded by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/richard-branson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Richard Branson</a>, launched its first passenger past the edge of space on Friday.</li><li>Beth Moses, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/virgin-galactic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Virgin Galactic</a>'s chief astronaut instructor, was the passenger. She was accompanied by two pilots.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/spaceshiptwo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SpaceShipTwo</a>, named "VSS Unity," rocketed the crew to nearly 56 miles above Earth, providing a few minutes of weightlessness.</li><li>But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/jeff-bezos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeff Bezos</a>, who's starting his own space tourism company, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/blue-origin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blue Origin</a>, questioned the capabilities of Virgin Galactic earlier this week.</li><li>Bezos said vehicles should fly above 62 miles - an internationally recognized boundary of space - to avoid leaving "asterisks" next to any space traveler's name.</li></ul><p>Richard Branson's company, Virgin Galactic, has flown its first passenger on a rocket-powered spaceship.</p><p>The flight is part of a decades-long effort by multiple companies to usher in an era of frequent and safe <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-blue-origin-virgin-galactic-space-tourism-2018-9">suborbital space tourism</a>, in which vehicles can fly high enough to briefly enter space, provide minutes of zero-gravity, and then return to the ground.</p><p>On Friday, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo vehicle, named "VSS Unity," did just that. Unity lifted off the ground under the wings of a double-bodied airplane mothership called WhiteKnightTwo. Once at the proper altitude, the vehicle dropped from its mothership, ignited a rubber-fuel rocket engine, and soared high above Earth.</p><p>Unity accelerated to about three times the speed of sound and reached an altitude of 55.87 miles (89.9 km), according <a href="https://twitter.com/virgingalactic/status/1099001460027645952" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to Virgin Galactic</a>. That's about 10 times higher than a typical passenger jet's cruising altitude. It's the second flight to puncture the boundary that the US government considers to be the edge of space.</p><p>Virgin Galactic's first passenger wasn't a tourist who bought a $250,000 ticket, though - it was <a href="https://twitter.com/virgingalactic/status/1098997318429241344" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Beth Moses</a>, the company's chief astronaut instructor, who tested the crew cabin and experienced several minutes of weightlessness inside. She is the first person to fly as a passenger aboard a commercial spaceship.</p><p>"The crew enjoyed extraordinary views of Earth from the black skies of space and, during several minutes of weightlessness, Beth floated free to complete a number of cabin evaluation test points," Virgin Galactic said in <a href="https://www.virgingalactic.com/articles/virgin-galactic-makes-space-for-second-time-in-ten-weeks-with-three-on-board/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a press release</a>. "The human validation of data previously collected via sensors, and the live testing of other physical elements of the cabin interior, are fundamental to the provision of a safe but enjoyable customer experience."</p><p>However, another billionaire interested in space tourism - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-rocket-company-most-important-2018-4">Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the aerospace company Blue Origin</a> - questioned the capabilities of Virgin Galactic earlier this week.</p><p>"One of the issues that Virgin Galactic will have to address, eventually, is that they are not flying above the Kármán line. Not yet. The vehicle isn't quite capable," Bezos said during an event at the Wings Club in New York on Tuesday.</p><p>Bezos explained that not going beyond this point would leave "asterisks" next to space flyers' names.</p><h2>What the Kármán line is and why Blue Orgin is targeting it</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.virgingalactic.com/news/">Virgin Galactic</a></span></p><p class="caption">Inside the SpaceShipTwo or VSS Unity rocket ship as it flew near the edge of space on February 22, 2019. Beth Moses (center) was the company's first passenger.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>There is no official, globally recognized boundary for where Earth ends and space begins. In fact, just this month researchers said the outer fringes of Earth's atmosphere <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earth-atmosphere-extends-beyond-moon-hydrogen-gas-cloud-2019-2">stretch more than 150,000 miles beyond the moon</a>.</p><p>Still, Earth's air pressure drops off dramatically at high altitudes, and wing-based lift begins to peter out if a vehicle gets dozens of miles high. NASA and the US Air Force consider the demarcation between pilots and astronauts to be at an altitude of 50 miles (80 kilometers).</p><p>But "for most of the world ... the edge of space is defined as 100 kilometers" or 62 miles high, Bezos said on Tuesday during a conversation moderated by Jeff Foust of <a href="https://spacenews.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Space News</a>.</p><p>That boundary is named after Theodore von Kármán. In his book "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wind-Beyond-Theodore-Aviation-Pathfinder/dp/0316907537" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wind and Beyond</a>," Kármán says that above 57 miles (92 kilometers) in altitude, "there is no longer any air to contribute lift." The World Air Sports Federation has taken this line 5 miles (8 kilometers) higher to mark the spot where space begins.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earth-moon-distance-edge-of-outer-space-2018-5">The space between Earth and the moon is mind-boggling. This graphic reveals just how big it is - and what's out there.</a></em></p><p>"I think that one of the things that [Virgin Galactic] will have to figure out, is how to get above the Kármán line. We fly to 106 kilometers" or 66 miles, Bezos said.</p><p>By "we" Bezos was referring to Blue Origin, which has developed an autonomous, fully <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-new-shepard-rocket-test-launch-success-2017-12">reusable rocket-and-space-capsule system called New Shepard</a>.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.blueorigin.com/gallery">Blue Origin</a></span></p><p class="caption">Blue Origin's reusable New Shepard suborbital rocket launches toward space in 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The squat rocket launches the capsule on a ballistic (up-and-down) trajectory, then returns to Earth and lands, allowing it to be refueled. Meanwhile, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blue-origin-new-shepard-spaceship-inside-images-2017-3">sleek crew capsule</a> continues flying upward, providing about 4 minutes of weightlessness for passengers.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk-competition-companies-rockets-2018-3">SpaceX's list of competitors is growing - here are 9 futuristic rockets in the pipeline for the new space race</a></em></p><p>The reason New Shepard was designed to pierce the internationally recognized boundary of space, Bezos said, was to remove any doubts about status.</p><p>"We've always had as our mission that we wanted to fly above the Kármán line, because we didn't want there to be any asterisks next to your name about whether you're an astronaut," he said.</p><p>Bezos added that Blue Origin plans to launch its first people on New Shepard imminently.</p><p>"This is the first time I've ever been saying, 'this year,'" he said. "For a few years, I've been saying, 'next year.'"</p><h2>A series of firsts for suborbital space tourism</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.virgingalactic.com/news/">Virgin Galactic</a></span></p><p class="caption">SpaceShipTwo, or VSS Unity, lifts off the ground attached to its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo. The small rocket ship launched toward the edge of space for a second time on February 22, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>A representative of Virgin Galactic did not issue a response to Bezos' comments in time for publication.</p><p>For its part, though, Branson's space tourism outfit is claiming to rack up firsts.</p><p>"Today's flight notched several additional firsts for the industry," Virgin Galactic said in its <a href="https://www.virgingalactic.com/articles/virgin-galactic-makes-space-for-second-time-in-ten-weeks-with-three-on-board/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">release</a>. "The flight was the first time that a non-pilot flew on board a commercial spaceship to space, and it was the first time that a crew member floated freely without restraints in weightlessness in space onboard a commercial spaceship; it was the first time that three people flew to space on a commercial spaceship, and Dave Mackay became the first Scottish-born astronaut."</p><p>The flight also marked the company's fifth back-to-back supersonic flight of a SpaceShipTwo vehicle, which is a welcome shift for the company. (In October 2014, one of its pilots died and another was seriously injured during an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-virgin-galactics-spacecraft-disintegrated-in-mid-air-2015-7">in-flight breakup of the "VSS Enterprise" SpaceShipTwo vehicle</a>.)</p><p>"Flying the same vehicle safely to space and back twice in a little over two months, while at the same time expanding the flight envelope, is testament to the unique capability we have built up," Branson said in the release.</p><p>He added: "Having Beth fly in the cabin today, starting to ensure that our customer journey is as flawless as the spaceship itself, brings a huge sense of anticipation and excitement to all of us here who are looking forward to experiencing space for ourselves. The next few months promise to be the most thrilling yet."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-blue-origin-virgin-galactic-space-tourism-2018-9">How SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic plan on taking you to space</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Virgin Galactic just rocketed its first passenger past the edge of space - but Jeff Bezos says its astronauts have 'asterisks' next to their names

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6360701" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="spacex">SpaceX</keyword> is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-mars-rocket-spaceport-flyover-pictures-boca-chica-texas-2020-7">developing a fully reusable rocket system</a> called Starship-Super Heavy in <keyword id="8136052" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Boca-Chica">Boca Chica</keyword>, <keyword id="15710" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="texas">Texas</keyword>.</li><li>The latest <keyword id="1611690" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Starship">Starship</keyword> prototype, called SN5, performed an experimental "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starhopper-launch-video-youtube-live-video-feed-2019-8">hop</a>" hundreds of feet into the air on Tuesday.</li><li>The roughly 16-story vehicle soared off the launch pad, flew for about 40 seconds, and then landed downrange.</li><li>Several live video feeds on YouTube — including <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDkP5NWUhfHXZNhcGr2G2pQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SPadre</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFwMITSkc1Fms6PoJoh1OUQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LabPadre</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSUu1lih2RifWkKtDOJdsBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASASpaceFlight</a> — recorded footage of the long-awaited test flight.</li></ul><p>SpaceX is one giant grain-silo launch closer to reaching Mars.</p><p>The aerospace company, founded by <keyword id="6355315" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elon-musk">Elon Musk</keyword> in 2002, launched and landed an early prototype of a potentially revolutionary rocket system called Starship at 7:57 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The flight occurred at SpaceX's expanding <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-mars-rocket-spaceport-flyover-pictures-boca-chica-texas-2020-7">rocket factory, development, and test site</a> in Boca Chica, a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-planning-private-village-south-texas-starship-boca-chica-beach-2020-2">relatively remote region</a> at the southeastern tip of Texas.</p><p>"Mars is looking real," Musk <a href="http://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1290806924728918017" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> shortly after the flight of roughly 492 feet, or 150 meters, into the air, later <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1290817143785783296" target="_blank" rel="noopener">adding</a>: "Progress is accelerating."</p><p><a href="https://www.spadre.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SPadre.com</a>, which has a camera trained on SpaceX's launch site from about 6 miles away on South Padre Island, captured the launch from start to finish with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCnl4IZOPe0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a 24-hour live feed on YouTube</a>. In the background, audio of a livestream hosted by <a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASASpaceFlight.com</a> (which caught yet<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwC6LG_z8zE" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> another view</a> with a different camera and angle), audible cheers could be heard coming from on-site SpaceX employees and contractors.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QbM7Vsz3kg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a></p><p>The clip below shows a profile of the whole flight from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDkP5NWUhfHXZNhcGr2G2pQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SPadre</a>'s feed.</p><p>In the movie, the prototype takes off using a single <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-raptor-mars-moon-rocket-engine-blast-videos-2019-2">Raptor rocket engine</a>, translates across the launch site, deploys a set of short landing legs, and touches down on a concrete pad.</p><p>Musk later <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1290819191835164672" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> that Starship's next set of landing legs "will be ~60% longer" and that a version further down the line "will be much wider &amp; taller" like the legs of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-block-5-2018-5">Falcon 9 rocket booster</a>, "but capable of landing on unimproved surfaces &amp; auto-leveling" — in other words, optimized to landing on the moon or Mars.</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QbM7Vsz3kg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LabPadre</a>, which hosted a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QbM7Vsz3kg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">live feed of SpaceX's launch site</a> featuring multiple camera views, also recorded the flight.</p><p>Below is that YouTube channel's edited recording of the experimental launch.</p><p>If Starship and its Super Heavy rocket booster end up being fully reusable, Musk has said, the system may reduce the cost of launching anything to space by about a thousandfold and enable <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-one-million-starship-rocket-launches-commercial-international-launches-2020-1">hypersonic travel around Earth</a>.</p><p>But first, SpaceX has to see whether its core designs for Starship work. To that end, the company is moving briskly to build, test, and launch prototypes.</p><p>Tuesday's "hop" flight — Musk said ahead of the flight that SpaceX was targeting an altitude of 150 meters — represents the first flight of any full-scale Starship hardware. It's also a crucial step toward informing future prototypes and, ultimately, launches that fly Starships into orbit around Earth.</p><p>SpaceX had hoped to attempt a flight of SN5 on July 27, but Hurricane Hanna damaged a component that had to be fixed, Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1287926090715947009" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. A previous <a href="https://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_0_6530.html">notice to airmen</a> suggested the company would try to fly SN5 on Sunday — the same day as its attempt to land <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronauts-doug-hurley-bob-behnken-biography-spacex-demo2-2020-5">two NASA astronauts</a> in the Gulf of Mexico — but the launch window came and went. (SpaceX's Demo-2 was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-safely-splashes-down-nasa-astronauts-crew-dragon-demo2-mission-2020-8">a historic test flight</a> of the company's Crew Dragon spaceship, a vehicle developed with about $2.7 billion in NASA funding.)</p><h2>Prototyping toward Mars</h2><p><div type="image" title="starship sn5 rocket prototype tank static fire test july 30 2020 boca chica south texas drone image elon musk spacex twitter" height="630" width="1500" msid="77362334" hostid="261"></div></p><p>The above photo shows the SN5 prototype from above during a test-firing of its engine on July 30.</p><p>SN5 is the latest of several full-scale Starship prototypes that SpaceX has built in Texas. The previous versions have either crumpled during tests or, as was the case on May 29, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-rocket-prototype-explosion-fireball-boca-chica-texas-2020-5">catastrophically exploded</a>.</p><p><div type="image" title="spacex starship mk1 mark 1 steel test model boca chica south texas sunset flickr 48954138902_e9ae0d1a65_o" height="2000" width="3000" msid="77362335" hostid="261"></div>Each failure has taught SpaceX valuable lessons to inform design and material changes — tweaks that Musk says are already being worked into SN6, SN7, and SN8 prototypes, which are in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohxV-644ZOM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">various stages of assembly</a> within the company's expanding and bustling work yards in South Texas.</p><p>The steel vehicles don't have wing-like canards or nosecones attached, in case something goes wrong in their earliest phases of testing, so they look more like flying fuel tanks or grain silos than rocket ships.</p><p>But as last year's test launch of an early Starship prototype called Starhopper showed, the flights of even experimental vehicles (shown above) can impress: On August 27, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starhopper-launch-video-youtube-live-video-feed-2019-8">Starhopper soared to a similar height as SN5</a>, translated across a launch site, and landed on a nearby concrete pad.</p><p><a href="https://gfycat.com/discover/rocket-gifs">from Rocket GIFs</a> <a href="https://gfycat.com/educatedheftyboubou-rocket-launches-boca-chica-starhopper">via Gfycat</a></p><p>SpaceX obtained <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6998632-Final-License-and-Orders-SpaceX-Starship.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration</a> to send Starship prototypes on a "suborbital trajectory," meaning the experimental rocket ships could reach dozens of miles above Earth before returning and landing. It's uncertain, however, whether SpaceX eventually plans to launch SN5 on such an ambitious flight path after Tuesday's "hop."</p><p>The company couldn't attempt more ambitious flights until late August at the soonest, though. On July 23, SpaceX asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to communicate with prototypes flying as high as 12.4 miles, or 20 kilometers, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-filed-to-launch-starship-prototype-2020-7">within the next seven months</a>. The earliest date noted on <a href="https://fcc.report/ELS/Space-Exploration-Technologies-Corp-SpaceX/1041-EX-ST-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the request</a>, which is still pending, is August 18.</p><p>Musk said after the flight of SN5 that the next phase of testing wouldn't fly prototypes very high, at least initially.</p><p>"We'll do several short hops to smooth out launch process, then go high altitude with body flaps," he <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1290826885375696899" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> on Tuesday.</p><p>SpaceX is also pursuing a launch license for full-scale, orbital-class Starship-Super Heavy vehicles. Musk hopes Starship will launch a cargo mission to Mars in 2022, send a private crew <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/yusaku-maezawa-zozo-ceo-resigns-sells-yahoo-spacex-starship-flight-2019-9">around the moon</a> in 2023, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-spacex-blue-origin-design-lunar-landers-2020-5">return NASA astronauts</a> to the lunar surface in 2024, and even begin <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plans-1-million-people-to-mars-by-2050-2020-1">sending people to Mars</a> the same year.</p><p><em>This story has been updated with new information.</em></p>

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