Satoshi Takamatsu’s trip to the ISS is aboard a Russian
rocket and capsule. With the retirement of the NASA
space shuttle several years ago, American companies
are today building two different capsules to help NASA
with the Commercial Crew program to send crews to
and from the ISS. Those capsules will also take along a
few spaceflight participants as well.
Boeing Space Exploration, with the help of its
Commercial Airplane division, is incorporating the
Boeing Sky Interior into its NASA crew capsule.
Former NASA shuttle astronaut and pilot Chris
Ferguson is Boeing’s Director of Crew and Mission
Operations. Ferguson states he wants “…to make it an
inviting and a comfortable environment for that
commercial customer, so they can look back and say
that it was a wonderful experience…so they can say,
‘I had the ride of my life.’”
The Boeing capsule with its crew and one or two
spaceflight participants will be launched aboard the
very reliable Atlas rocket from Launch Complex 41 at
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. CCAFS property
adjoins Kennedy Space Center, the former space shuttle
launch complex. The first test flight will be in 2017.
At Launch Complex 40, SpaceX will launch its
Dragon crew capsule aboard its Falcon 9 rocket.
SpaceX already provides Commercial Cargo services to
the ISS for NASA from this complex. The new crew
capsule under development is based on the proven
Dragon cargo capsule. SpaceX’s plans for spaceflight
participants have not yet been released. However, the
company will not lose the opportunity to offer its own
ultimate experiential spaceflight travel up to the ISS.
Spaceflight participants who travel to the ISS, after
getting acclimated to weightlessness, will want to make
their way to the observation Cupola in order to enjoy the
breathtaking view of the Earth nearly 250 miles below.
They will also perform duties with the crew. Their stay
there will be one to several weeks, or longer. They will
return to Earth in a crew capsule much as the Apollo
astronauts did with a fiery reentry, deployment of three
main parachutes, and an ocean landing.
Affluent travelers will soon travel in ways only
trained astronauts have experienced up to now. They
will cross over the threshold of personal spaceflight, be
transformed by those wondrous sights and visceral
sensations and gain a new and deep appreciation for
the magnificent Earth.
TOP RIGHT
Sir Richard
Branson, founder
of Virgin Galactic.
MIDDLE
RIGHT
Passengers
will become
astronauts flying
aboard the
Virgin Galactic
SpaceShipTwo.
BOTTOM
RIGHT
The Blue Origin
New Shepard
suborbital rocket
and space
capsule with six
passengers will
launch from the
company’s west
Texas launch
complex.
Space Travel
|
SUMMER / FALL 2015
21
